LIKE many of his fellow students, Duncan Scott has spent the last few weeks getting high. Just not in the traditional sense. The 18 year-old, in his first year of a Business and Sports Studies degree, has been in Doha, Qatar with other members of the University of Stirling swim team – including Robbie Renwick, Ross Murdoch and Craig Benson – undertaking a period of living at altitude. For Scott, one of the Sunday Herald’s Six to Follow on the road to the Rio Olympics, it is his first experience of this particular phenomenon and it has been something of an eye-opener.

“It’s my first ever time sleeping at altitude and it’s been a bit strange,” he says. “The physiologist has been cranking it up each day which makes it harder and harder to recover. Everyone reacts differently to altitude. Last week I was complaining to my coach about the fact I was struggling as you just can’t properly recover when you’re sleeping at 3500 metres. It’s difficult but we’ll see if I get the benefit when I’m back home and competing again.”

It has been a fairly full-on programme. “We got one day off last Sunday so we all went go-karting. And there’s a massive shopping mall next to where we’re staying so we’ve eaten out there a few times. But the rest of the time is all about training.”

Scott will compete in the FINA World Cups in Doha and Dubai this week before returning home. Next up is the British University Championships in Sheffield and then the Scottish Short Course Championship before he enjoys some brief respite over Christmas. “We get three or four days off which doesn’t sound a lot but for a swimmer that’s heaven,” he adds, grateful for small mercies. After that he will head to Australia on New Year’s Day for another three-week training camp. It is an intense period but one designed with the Olympic trials in Glasgow in April in mind.

“Every couple of days or so you find yourself thinking about the trials,” he admits. “I’ve never competed at one before. I was on the sidelines at the London 2012 trials. It was a great to watch but it will be a whole new thing being a part of it. I’m looking forward to it although it’s hard to really tell what shape I’m in right now with that in mind.”

Scott is modest about his own achievements but others are happy to blow his trumpet for him. On one remarkable night last month, he was honoured in two different cities at two separate events, picking up (in absentia) the Sir Peter Heatly Trophy for Young Sportsperson of the Year at the Commonwealth Games Scotland dinner in Glasgow and also British Swimming’s award for Emerging Athlete of the Year in Manchester. It is further sign of a swimmer advancing towards the elite but he redirects the credit to his backroom team.

“I got an email inviting me to both events so I was thinking, “god, which one do I go to? But I went to Manchester in the end. Personally I didn’t think I deserved to win either award given who I was up against but it was really nice and something I appreciate.

“But the team I’m involved with at Stirling Uni need to get a lot of recognition, too, for the work they put in. As well as my coaches, I also meet up with a nutritionist every week – who tells me to not eat Dairy Milk – and I also work with psychologists and Brown Ferguson, who is our lifestyle coach.”

There is so much going on in Scott’s life that it remains quite an achievement that he isn’t wandering around in a permanently frazzled state. On top of all his swimming commitments, he must also keep up with his studies and adjust to living away from home for the first time.

“It’s going okay,” he says. “It’s only hard if you make it hard. But it’s about dealing with things when you’re tried, emailing people and writing essays and all that stuff. I’m only in Year One so it’s not too bad so far.”

There are other things to focus on this month. Renwick has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the Stirling swim team to see who can produce the most impressive facial hair for Movember. It seems a bit unfair to ask a fresh-faced 18 year-old to try to produce a handlebar moustache but Scott is willing to give it a crack.

“I’m going to try get involved, although I might be lacking a couple of hairs,” he laughs self-deprecatingly. “I don’t think there will be enough to dye it, that’s for sure. Robbie’s ought to be interesting, mind.”

Scott will also have one eye on the ongoing adventures of his beloved Alloa Athletic as Danny Lennon’s side try to manoeuvre themselves away from the wrong of the SPFL Championship table.

“I’m meant to use Saturday and Sundays to relax as much as possible so I don’t fancy my chances of doing that at the games given their current form!” he laughs. “My coach is a big Alloa fan too so it’s good to chat about the team and how they’re doing when we’re away together. Hopefully they can get away from the bottom of the table,” showing it is not just Scott hoping to become accustomed to operating at a higher level.