There is a fine line between success or failure in sport. The bounce of the ball, width of a post and a fraction of a second spring to mind.

For Teddington distance runner Andy Vernon that fine line is seven seconds – and that is what stands between him and a possible appearance at the London Olympics.

It is the amount of time he needs to shave off his current 5,000m best to make the grade for next year’s Games.

It might take him all winter and a four-month spell in Australia to get there, but get there he will.

Vernon, who was this week named in the GB squad for next Sunday’s European Cross Country Championships in Slovenia, missed out on the world championships in South Korea in the summer and had to watch distance rival Mo Farah claim gold in his event.

The 25-year-old St Mary’s University student made up for that disappointment by winning the world student games in China in August.

Vernon ran the third fastest Brit over 5,000m last year – clocking 13 minutes, 27.85 seconds in April – and is after a similarly fast start in 2012 to make sure missing a major championship does not happen a second time.

“This year is going to be very tough, but the sooner I can get that qualifying time the better,” he said.

“Then I can just focus on being ready for the Olympics. That is the plan.

“I’ve got to run eight seconds quicker than I have before to get the standard, but that works out at just over half a second a lap. It is doable.

“It was disappointing not to go to the worlds, but maybe it was better to win a medal at the student games than not make a final in Chengdu.

“It meant I had a good start to the season and a good end, it is just the middle part that didn’t go so well.

“I just wasn’t able to run fast enough.”

Vernon, a regular hill runner in Richmond Park, changed coach this year and is now working with Australian Nic Bideau both in Teddington and Down Under.

And he hopes the move – like Farah before him – can take him to the next level.

“There was nothing wrong with the training I just think working with someone new can bring a fresh start,” he added.

“Mo Farah did something similar last year and it has obviously made a massive difference for him.

“Because of exams and stuff last year I couldn’t concentrate on my training in the way I would have liked, but it is all go now.

“I just need to make sure I stay injury-free and hit the ground running next year.”

Vernon ended his year by winning the McCain Cross Challenge title in Liverpool on Saturday in a time of 29:19 – a fraction slower than the time he won the same race in 12 months ago.

Andy Vernon was talking ahead of the McCain Cross Challenge which took place in Liverpool on November 26.

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