ED Jackson, the Aldershot, Farnham & District runner, had a dramatic experience in his very first major track championships.

The former Great Britain junior cross-country international was competing at Bydgoszcz in Poland in the European U/23 Championships and was holding a good position in his 1,500m semi-final, when an incident in the back straight nearly ended his hopes.

One of the leading runners tripped, causing another to stumble in front of Jackson, who received a series of nasty spike lacerations to his thighs, shin and arms as he struggled to keep his balance.

The 21-year-old suddenly found himself pushed to the back of the field, but, showing great presence of mind, fought his way back to give himself a chance of qualification.

Finishing sixth in his heat gave him a slim hope, but the second heat was faster and he found himself fractions of a second outside the finalists.

The British team management, having watched a video of the race, then lodged a protest, stating that but for the incident, Jackson would have qualified easily for the final.

After hours of nail-biting suspense, the appeal jury upheld the protest and the AFD man was included as a 13th runner – a rare event indeed.

In the final, Jackson, not content to sit at the back, decided to mix it with Europe's best and, having led the field through 600 metres, was in real contention for a medal.

However, he just missed out, finishing sixth in the scramble for the line, but only 9/10ths of a second away from a broze medal. His time was 3mins 45.95secs.

Although disappointed, Jackson, who is coached at Horsham by Neville Taylor – formerly coach to Steve Ovett – felt that the experience had been a valuable one.

He said: "It was a real nightmare, but running for Great Britain is such an honour that I wasn't going to give in easily. The British management was fantastic to get me back into the final. I'm glad I didn't let them down."

Ed Jackson is based at Edgborough School, Frensham, where his father, Richard, is headmaster, and is a student at Nottingham University.

AFD colleague and travelling companion Chris Thompson, favourite for the 5,000 metres, added to his growing reputation by winning his race in a time of 13mins 58.62 secs.