AMONG the glittering array of what is claimed to be the strongest team Britain has fielded for the European Team Championships is David Bishop, a 26-year-old Scot who will make his GB debut tomorrow in chastening circumstances.

Bishop is chasing a World Championship 1500 metres place but could enhance a growing reputation when he runs what is likely to be a tactical 3000m, playing to his undoubted pace. He moved to fifth on the Scottish outdoor 1500m rankings (3min 37.51sec) just behind the former World Indoor silver medallist David Strang last year, the fastest by a Scot for almost 18 years.

He covered the last 800m in 1.52 and was "so enthused and super-excited" that his next workouts were faster than ever before. "My best average for 10 x 400m was 59.9 seconds, but I averaged 58 seconds flat," he said, although his legs would take three weeks to recover. "Times came to a shuddering halt. The Olympics were gone and I did not even get to the Europeans. The season just evaporated."

Only now are the pieces coming together again, but progress is still far from smooth. Bishop was given a place in a 1500m early on the programme of the Oslo Diamond League last Friday. It was traumatic in the extreme.

A spike was ripped off inside 80 metres and by the time he slipped it back on the field was gone, and he walked off. "Then I thought, 'Maybe I can get into the Dream Mile', which I'd rather have been doing in the first place. So I spoke to the organisers; [the answer was] a stone-faced 'No'. They said it was up to Maury Plant, who does the start list for Diamond League races. They said they had no contact number for him, so I spent the next two hours wandering round the stadium, searching for an Aussie whom I did not know, but who was supposed to be wearing a dark suit.

"I was looking for him in the crowd and jogging round sipping water. Every time I heard what I thought was an Australian accent, it was: 'Excuse me, are you Maury Plant?'

"Finally I recognised Nic Bideau, an Australian coach, and for the next 40 minutes I followed him around. After about 2½ hours, I had to go and lie down, in case I did get a place. Eventually I heard I was in."

It was a gala night, even by Bislett standards. The iconic former world record-holders Seb Coe, Steve Cram and Steve Ovett were in the crowd. "I'd been watching this race on TV for years, hoping one day I might get into it and thinking that if ever I did, I'd run fast," said Bishop. "But it didn't happen."

He finished 13th in 4:00.43. "How can you run 4.00 in the Dream Mile? My warm-up was fine, and when I walked out into that stadium, with all these great milers, I was excited. My head was prepared to run fast. I was more than just looking forward to it, but I just missed that nervous edge. The last lap was really tough; I tied up horribly.

"I was 1:54 at 800 and about nine metres off the leader, and a guy who came round me with 380 to go ran 3:54, so I must have been well inside four minutes. But when I hit the home straight, I only had 17 seconds to dip under four minutes. Nightmare.

"But when I thought what I'd been through, I realised it wasn't too bad. The mile was almost three hours after I walked off from the 1500. I'd had lunch at 1pm and expected to be done with my race in five hours' time, and could pig out. So I hadn't eaten anything for about 8½ hours and was pretty depleted. Normally I'm excited, but my body was out of adrenaline. I'd spent so much nervous energy getting into the race.

"It's a consolation that I was considered good enough to get a place on the start line. Hopefully over the next couple of years, I can get into the Dream Mile and do myself justice."

Bishop was born in Germany where his father, who is from Burnside, worked with the European Space Agency – his mum is from Easterhouse – and he acknowledged the support they have provided, funding him after he earned degrees at the University of Wales and in New Mexico. "I am speaking to people, looking for some sponsorship, and living with my parents in Chippenham, in Wiltshire," he said. "I think I can get to the standard where I make some money, but I'm lucky my parents can help me out.

"My dad says my generation might be working to 75 so give this a go; that I will have plenty time; that, with my education, I'm not exactly coming from nothing. I'm making a 75-minute journey to my coach in Cardiff, paying a ludicrous Severn Bridge fee of £6.20 three times a week. If I was on my own it would be a big strain: £3.80 to get on the track, petrol, car maintenance. I am lucky my parents are wealthy enough to help, and willing to do so. Most parents would have kicked a 26-year-old out long ago.

"The main aim this year is the worlds in Moscow, but 2014 in Glasgow is a big motivation for staying full-time and digging it out."

Eilidh Child, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, runs the 400m hurdles today. Mark Dry is in the hammer, and Lennie Waite goes in the steeplechase. Kirsten McAslan is down for the 4 x 400m with Child tomorrow but, if victory is in sight, she may have to wait longer for her GB senior debut.