Jared Tallent's defence of his Olympic title is building well, with the Victorian winning a silver medal at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome.
The Australian, who will soon return home to finally receive his London 2012 Olympic gold medal, collected a silver medal in Rome on Sunday, finishing the 50km race in 3:42:36 behind winner Alex Schwazer (3:39:00).
Tallent said the performance was an important one as he eyes Rio 2016 in August.
"I've had a rough start to the year and this is a great turn around," he said.
"It all started to come together at altitude and to come away with this amazing performance today shows me that I am back on track for Rio. This is the ideal stepping stone for the Olympic Games."
Tallent now heads to the Australian Institute of Sports base in Varese, Italy before one final race in La Coruna, Spain, ahead of the Rio Games.
After racing in La Coruna, he will return to Australia, where in Melbourne on June 17 he will be presented with his much deserved gold medal from the London Olympics, 1046 days after he crossed the line second behind Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin in the 50km walk.
He was elevated to gold in March this year when Kirdyapkin was stripped of the medal after being caught up in the slew of positive drug tests from Russian athletes.
"I can't wait to get my medal in Melbourne," said Tallent.
"It will be the ultimate motivation to have it before heading overseas again and I can't wait to share it with my family and friends."
Meantime, Hamish Peacock will also be going to the Rio Games after throwing a personal best 85.53m in the men's javelin at an event in Japan to better the Olympic standard for the first time.
Peacock was competing at the Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki and his performance, along with his national title, ensure he will now be nominated for selection by the Australian Olympic Committee.
Also competing in Japan, Lauren Wells won the women's 400m hurdles in a time of 55.23. Brooke Stratton finished second in the women's long jump with 6.55m and Brandon Starc was third in the men's high jump, clearing 2.26m.
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