Wolverhampton's Matthew Hudson-Smith thrilled to be part of final

But while witnessing such greatness, the Birchfield Harrier admitted he felt a sense that given time he will get his moment to shine on the world stage.

Hudson-Smith – from Lanesfield, Wolverhampton – had run a new personal best of 44.48seconds from lane eight in his semi-final to make it through to the final.

He couldn't quite better that on Sunday – running 44.61seconds to finish last – but with van Niekerk running 43.03 to break Michael Johnson's 17-year-old record and win gold ahead of Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt, there was certainly no shame to be felt.

The 21-year-old is just coming towards the end of his apprenticeship in the discipline having really only focused on it for the past few years. And with his capacity to improve certainly not up for debate, Hudson-Smith is adamant the future is bright.

"That was mental, words can't describe how quick that was and what it was like to to be part of it," he said. "I thought I was gaining on him but all of a sudden he kicked on the back straight and I was like 'what's going on?'.

"I'm just happy that I have run two 44s. Again, that was a sloppy race but I am just slowly pulling it all together. It's only really my second year in the 400m and it will come together eventually but at the moment it's trying to put all the pieces together

."

Starting in lane seven, Hudson-Smith faced the ominous task of staying with world champion van Niekerk on his outside and London 2012 Olympic champion James on his inside.

The South African went out hard from the gun and incredibly managed to keep his ferocious pace right to the line, finishing an incredible 0.73seconds ahead of James in second.

And although he was never in the race, Hudson-Smith believes he can take a lot of positives into the 4x400m relay.

'I thought I was going well on the back straight and then I got to 250m and usually I have another gear and this time I didn't," he said.

"I got to about 150m to go and I felt really flat. I tried to kick it but it wasn't really happening. So it just shows that I need to get more consistency in my training, really and consistencies in my runs.

"It's positive and now go on to the relay and see what we can achieve."