Australia's Peter Bol has finished seventh in the final of the 800m at the World Athletics Championships in the United States.

Bol was aiming to become the first Australian man or woman since the inaugural world championships in Helsinki in 1983 to finish with a medal in the event.

The Australian had a bumping duel with Kenya's Wycliffe Kisasy to get in position in the early stages.

Bol settled in fourth and looked comfortable but eased back to sixth at the bell as some of the leading lights in the field, including Canada's Marco Arop, went forward, passing early leader Slimane Toula of Algeria.

However, Bol began to struggle in the back straight as the pace went on, with Arop leading from Kisasy and France's Gabriel Tual.

As they came to the bend, Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya surged up to the shoulder of Arop as the two went clear.

Korir hit the lead in the straight and came through to win the race, as Arop faded for bronze and Algeria's Djamel Sedjati timed his run to take silver.

Bol was last in the straight, then passed two runners before being beaten on the line by Tual to leave him in seventh.