GRANT PLENDERLEITH did, he admits, spend a significant proportion of his career believing that he wasn’t quite good enough to make it to the standard needed to represent GB. Scotland was, he believed, his level.

2018 has disabused him of that notion entirely though.

The 27-year-old 400m runner represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 but it is this year that has been his breakthrough. An incredible indoor season saw him finish third in the British Indoor Championships, which was closely followed by him being awarded his first GB cap when he was selected for the 4x400m relay team for the World Indoor Championships. And the Falkirk Victoria Harriers runner intends to build on that form now the outdoor season is in full swing.

Next in his sights is August’s European Championships. But with the 400m an impressively strong event in this country at the moment, Plenderleith must prove he is worthy of a spot in the British relay squad.

This weekend, he will have an excellent opportunity to make his presence felt when he is part of the GB relay squad at the CITIUS Athletics meeting in Bern Switzerland. With GB selectors having limited opportunities to test out relay combinations, a good performance by Plenderleith could go a long way to securing his ticket to the European Championships and he admits the prospect is hugely exciting, as well as somewhat surprising.

“I do sometimes think about selection for the Europeans – the standard is very tough though,” he said.

“There’s a lot of guys in the running for it but if they take six guys for the relay squad, I’m in with a shout. I’m new to the GB set-up so it’s exciting to be in the mix. So I just need to keep running well and if I got the phone call, that would be great.”

Plenderleith, has not always been headed for international athletics. A former footballer with Stenhousemuir, serious injury problems entirely derailed his season last year, leading him to contemplate retiring from athletics.

But his love for the sport was rekindled at the tail end of last year, although he still was not taking things nearly as seriously as one must to make it in the international arena.

“One day, I went down to the track to do a session as part of my rehab for my injury and because I’d been out for so long, I really enjoyed it,” he recalls.

“I’d got fed up with being unfit and unhealthy. I then went on holiday to Tenerife and trained every day and then when I got home, I ran in the Scottish Champs.

“I was in no shape at all really – I was in the high 12 stones, which is a stone heavier than I should be and that’s a lot to carry round a 400m track. I got silver although my time was ridiculously slow but it gave me that buzz back and made me want to run again.

“So I did a long, hard winter just trying to get fit and it went well.”

Plenderleith is understating things somewhat – his progress has been hugely impressive. Last month, he set a new 400m personal best, which moved him into fifth place on the Scottish all-time list. And he has gone from strength-to-strength since that run of 46.34 seconds, with every sign that he will continue to improve. He is refusing to put undue pressure on himself though.

“My coach and I have gone right back to basics – there’s nothing fancy in my gym sessions but it’s just about conditioning your body,” he said.

“And it’s about being mentally prepared too – if you go into a competition knowing that you feel good and you’re confident that you’re going to run well, you will run well whereas if you’re unsure abut things, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

“I just work hard. I don’t do this to get praise or compliments, I run just because this is what I do. And this seems to be really working for me – it’s the best way for me to operate.

“Everyone always asks me what’s next and I really don’t know. In athletics, anything can happen both good and bad. If you’re running well, you’re in discussions for selection but if you’re not running well, you’re forgotten about – that’s the harsh reality.”