It had been a trying few months for Guy Learmonth.
A spell of altitude training designed to help him ascend the 800 metres rankings led to unexpected, and unwelcome, results when it boosted his endurance, but reduced his speed.
However, the 21-year-old was – and is – the UK's quickest at his specialist distance in his age group. Which is why, when the call came to confirm he would not be in the British team which will travel this week to the European Under-23 Championship in Tampere, he felt, in his own words, "a bit hard done by".
It does though leave his diary free to compete next weekend in Birmingham, at the UK Championships which will also serve as the trials for August's IAAF World Championships in Moscow. But the Borderer has been consumed by disillusion and a sense that his face might not fit even when his performances suggest he merits a look.
To feel disappointment is under- standable and with the Common- wealth Games now becoming, by default, his next significant target, he rues a chance missed to gain first-hand experience of the stresses and tribulations to be found in an environment where medals are at stake.
"There's a big difference between running fast times and running well in championships races," he says. "And the only way you can take that next step is to be there and perform and produce the goods. But if I'm not being selected, how can I do that?"
Six other Scots (Laura Muir, Allan Smith, Jax Thoirs, Beth Potter, James McLachlan and Rhona Auckland), plus many of his peers, will complete their education in Finland, while Learmonth will have to nurse the bruises and rebound if he is to bridge the gulf between promise and deliverance.
He spends much of his time now based in Loughborough, home of UK Athletics' high performance centre and by design a magnet for the country's elite.
Some have accused the governing body of poaching athletes away from their original coaches in order to micro-manage their careers but Learmonth says the university-based sports campus is the chief lure.
"It's just the facilities and the guys I train with down there," he says. "Back home, the nearest track is 45 minutes away in Edinburgh. So I just train on roads and promenades. Having the high performance centre, and all the physios and masseurs on demand, almost at trackside, and 50 to 60 guys running round at the same time, is really incredible. It pushes you on because everyone wants to do well. You work harder in training when other guys are running well."
A solid show in Birmingham might make a point to the selectors on site. Only Michael Rimmer has the A qualifying standard for Moscow and Learmonth's best time, set this year, is barely a second outside the B mark. Yet there is another level beyond that, African-led, incorporating many who might come to Glasgow next summer.
Taking on the likes of omnipotent Olympic champion David Rudisha and Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman on home turf would present a different challenge altogether.
"With Aman, it's like running 100 metres against Tyson Gay but Rudisha's like racing against Usain Bolt. It would be incredible to be on the start line with him. But you'd have to forget he's the world record holder and Olympic champion and run your race."
He laughs. "Knowing me, I'd try to beat him."
Disillusion, it seems, is soon forgotten.
With UK Athletics signalling they will continue to restrict selections to those with medal potential at the world championships, only trials winners will be guaranteed a place if they hold the primary A standard.
Hurdler Eilidh Child and steeplechaser Eilish McColgan would cement their places with a British title but European 800m champion Lynsey Sharp, yet to race this summer, has an urgent need to prove both fitness and form to argue her case for a ticket to the Russian capital.
Mark Dry, in the hammer, represents the best hope for a Scottish male to be included.
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