The morning after Kyle Langford’s thunderous charge brought him within inches of a shock 800m world championship medal he evocatively summed up how he felt powering down the home straight. “I wasn’t focusing on times but picking people off like a sniper,” he said. His only regret was that he did not take more of them out.
“I felt good and thought I could come through,” explained the hugely likeable 21-year-old, who missed out on bronze by just 0.04sec. “I was counting how many people there were and I knew I’d at least get fourth and as I saw the Kenyan in third going to die, I thought: ‘I can have him for dinner here.’ As I dipped I kind of knew I’d missed a medal. I smiled and thought: ‘Oh well, I gave it a good go.’
“I know there’s more I could’ve done,” added Langford, whose new personal best of 1min 45.25sec proved scant consolation. “I was so close to bronze and silver and not far from gold. I am a bit gutted as I felt I could’ve done more.”
Langford barely slept afterwards but was still startlingly clear-eyed about his future on Wednesday morning. His ambitions include emulating Seb Coe and Steve Ovett by doubling up in the 800m and 1500m, playing a part in Britain’s 4x400m relay team and, for good measure, becoming the next Mo Farah too.
But why shouldn’t he shoot for the stars? After all, he was a 50-1 outsider just to make the 800m final. Yet once he got there he had 50,000 people in the London Stadium screaming their lungs out with his performance.
“I’m only 21 so hopefully next time in Doha a medal is possible and gold would be nice,” he told Athletics Weekly. “I still train at a novice level and another winter will see me starting to become really dangerous. I can see myself jumping up to 1500m and I can see myself running a really good 400m. I feel like I’ve got the wheels to get on to the 4x400m team. I’m very ambitious in what I want.
“I’ve also said to my coach Jon Bigg that I want to make a 4x400m team and make a 1500m team, an 800m team and try to double up at championships in the future.”
Langford’s performance was the best 800m by a British male athlete at a world championships since Curtis Robb also came fourth in 1993. But he knows that to get better he needs to work on his big weakness – running around bends.
“I really struggle with it,” he said. “I can’t sprint around them so I have to wait until the straight to overtake people. With about 80m to go I often make a massive surge. They did a speed thing with me in the final and I picked up from 15 to 18.5mph really quickly. If I start perfecting that then I can see myself being quite dominant on the world stage.”
Langford has set his sights on the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham next March and then the Commonwealth Games in April. But his first aim is to lower his PB by the end of the season. “I feel like I’m ready to pop out a proper personal best and much faster than I ran here,” he said. “1:45 doesn’t do me justice. A 1:44 low is definitely on the cards but it’s easier said than done.”
Langford’s potential was identified as an 18-year-old, when he was winning 800m races in 1:47 despite training only three times and running just 15 miles a week. His progress has not always been smooth since then, however, and it took him seven months to recover from a knee injury sustained in Kenya in November 2015.
“Last year was horrible,” he said. “I was really weak. I was really un-robust. My IT band was weak. It was the way I was landing on my feet. I was too weak on my calves. My hamstrings were weak. My back wasn’t great. It wasn’t if I’d get injured but when.”
But after missing out on the Rio Olympics he has grown stronger and more confident – so confident, in fact, he believed a medal was there for the taking. “The 800m is known for being the hardest to get to the final in but one of the easiest to win a medal,” he said.
“It’s tactical and there are only eight people. But I showed a little inexperience in not getting into a more prominent position.
“Come Tokyo I won’t be making that mistake,” he added. “I promise I will be getting that Olympic gold medal. Hopefully in the years to come you will see me taking over from Mo Farah. But it might not be the worst thing that has happened, as it keeps me hungry.” Those that dare stumble into his firing line, like many of his opponents on Monday night, could find themselves devoured.
