Croydon Harrier Martyn Rooney has set his sights on the British 400m record after an impressive 2008.

The 21-year-old chalked a massive seven tenths of a second off his personal best this year, ran under 45 seconds for the first time and reached the Olympic final.

Unfortunately he finished a disappointing sixth in Beijing and then came home an agonizing fourth in the relay.

However, the 6’6” runner is already looking forward to next year, in particular August’s World Championships in Berlin and he is hopeful of bettering Iwan Thomas’ 11-year-old British record of 44.36 seconds.

“This year I am realistically going to have to say I want a medal at the World Championships,” he said, “and I would like to think I could get the British record.

“I think I’m more than capable of running quicker than that and I hope to be in that kind of ball park figure if not quicker.”

Despite the disappointment of leaving Beijing without a medal, the former Purley John Fisher School pupil remained positive about the last 12 months and the improvements he has made.

“It was a good year but I wanted a medal out of it and I was disappointed I didn’t get one,” he said.

“After the Olympics every race was a downer but I think progress was made and I did better than what was expected.

“I had a bad year the last year but made the changes that were necessary and I came out and ran well.”

Rooney was part of the Olympics team that paraded through London last month to mark their success and he admitted he could not wait for 2012 to come around.

“There was just such a buzz around the Olympics,” he said.

“It’s so much bigger than any other Championship and I got pretty down having to wait another four years for it.

“But it will come around quickly and we will probably think we will need more time when we come to it.””