There would have been no more popular winner of a medal among the British team than the captain who has stirringly sought to motivate them ahead of these world championships and defended their efforts during them, but it was not to be as Eilidh Doyle had to settle for having reached the 400 metres hurdles final.

It was a race which produced a surprise result, American Kori Carter overcoming the disadvantage of having been allocated the outside lane to stay ahead of compatriot Dalilah Muhammad, the Olympic champion and the fastest in the event this year while avoiding seeing any of her opponents all the way to the finish.

“I am on top of the world right now. What a blessing to be world champion. This is just an incredible feeling like I have never experienced,” said the 25-year-old.

Read more: Two out of three ain't bad for Edinburgh AC as O'Hare and Wightman earn places in 1500 semis

By contrast Doyle suffered the reverse experience to that of the new champion, unable as she was to reel in any of her rivals in the course of their lap of the track.

While the 30-year-old from Perth had said after the semi-finals that the way her event has been going this season meant she believed the race for medals was wide open the form book indicated that it was never likely that she would contend as she squeezed into the final, taking the last available place as the second of the fastest losers in the three semi-finals.

That had consequently resulted in her being allocated the inside lane which, though an improvement on her heat and semi, in both of which she was effectively running blind in the outside lane, remained an awkward draw, tighter as the angle is on the bends. Her task was also made all the more difficult by having Muhammad, very much in her eye-line since, as Doyle had pointed out, she is a particularly fast starter which can affect the rhythm of her rivals in an event in which that is vital.

There had been some cause for optimism to be drawn by the vast understanding the 2015 European champion has acquired from repeated involvement in meetings of this quality, this being her fifth World Championships, but her career history has been a demonstration of how, in some events, there can remain a gap between being best in her continent and the very best in the world.

Read more: Two out of three ain't bad for Edinburgh AC as O'Hare and Wightman earn places in 1500 semis

Her previous appearances had seen her go out in the semi-finals in both Berlin in 2009 and Daegu in 2011, before she claimed fifth place in Moscow in 2013 and sixth in Beijing two years ago, a collected testimony to how tough it can be in such company and she finished eighth this time around in a time of 55.71 seconds, more than a second and half outside her personal best and she was naturally disappointed.

“I went out hard,” she said afterwards. “However I took hurdle seven the wrong way and after that I was all over the place. If I had finished 8th and nailed the race I would’ve been happy but I feel I could have gone a lot faster out there. I am not saying I could have finished amongst the medals but I feel I could have finished higher than 8th. This is where you want your best race to happen. I felt like I was getting some really good consistency heading into the championships.”

Earlier Doyle’s fellow former European champion Lynsey Sharp meanwhile grabbed her chance to get involved by easing through her heat in the 800 metres.

The 2012 European champion, who finished sixth in last year’s Olympic final in Rio, looked every bit the experienced athlete she is as she held her nerve on the inside around the final bend, waited for a gap to open as Belarussia’s Marina Arzamasova drifted wide on the home straight and slipped past her to draw clear with Kenyan race winner Margaret Wambui and leave the rest of the field to scrabble for the third automatic qualifying spot.

Read more: Two out of three ain't bad for Edinburgh AC as O'Hare and Wightman earn places in 1500 semis

“I’ve been waiting all week to get out here, watching a lot of it on television and it was great to get started,” she said afterwards.

Having run a personal best of 1:57.69 in that Olympic final she has taken time to build up her speed this season, having to rely on the selectors to show their faith in her after she missed out on a top two finish at the British trials last month, but she looked in the form to repay that confidence.

That said a much tougher challenge awaits her in tonight’s semi-final, but like her compatriot and captain she knows all about getting to major finals. Not that there is anything magical to that process, as she pointed out, saying: “It’s so competitive to make the final, I’ve just got to take each round as it comes and run tomorrow as a final, that’s all I can do.”

The two women who beat her in those British trials, Shelanya Oskan-Clarke and Adelle Tracy, the latter benefiting from being in the last heat and knowing exactly what was required as she claimed one of the fastest losers’ spots.