A fourth-place finish and personal best time at the athletics World Championships is no small feat, but it was scarcely enough to sate the appetite of Watford’s Kyle Langford.

The Watford 800m runner produced a stunning display at the former Olympic Stadium last night, as he finished just outside the medal places in his maiden major final appearance.

For many the showing would have been enough. Disappointment was the overriding emotion for Langford, however.

“I’ve got a funny mentality of wanting to win everything I do. You sit down and say ‘fourth I’ll take that,’ but I know in myself and know in my heart that I wanted to get a medal out here, so it’s gutting not getting it,” Langford said.

“I said to my coach that I want to make the final and when I make the final, I want to pull something off and win a medal.

“I know a lot of people said getting to the final was good but I was lying in bed last night thinking that it was destined for me to come out and get a medal and I can’t really say much more than that.”

It is a measure of Langford’s ambition that he views failing to medal at a home World Championships as somewhat of a failure.

The final itself saw the European Junior champion clock a best ever time of 1.45.25 and almost take bronze on the line, only to miss out by 0.04 seconds to Kenya’s Kipyegon Bett.

At 21, time is on his side, and the Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers athlete will surely develop into a serious medal contender down the line.

With this in mind, Langford hopes to grow from his first taste of a World Championship final.

He said: “I just have to take it on the chin and try and learn from this experience. I knew I was going through in the right time and I was closing hard, but I left it just a little bit too late. But this is where you can learn.”

Gold went to Frenchman Pierre-Ambrose Bosse (1.44.67) while second spot was secured by Adam Kszczot (1.45.21).