Eleven seconds and a lot of hard work stand between Ashley Couper and the opportunity of a lifetime.

The Bermudian runner has hit a purple patch and is desperately hoping her upturn in form and therefore speed ? which she puts down to hard work in training ? can translate into the faster times needed to get her a seat on the flight to Athens this summer.

Couper has run 4.18 in the 1500 metres and will need to hack, rather than shave, a considerable amount off that if she is to be there when the Olympic Games return to their historic home.

She will need to take 11 seconds off that current best to earn her spot but seems to be going about that mammoth task the right way.

So far in 2004, the 25-year-old has romped home to straightforward wins in both the Front Street Mile here in Bermuda and the Husky Indoor Invitational Mile and she can?t wait for her chance to get on a track again.

Only the oversize nature of the Seattle track prevented Couper from setting a new national indoor record in her last outing and within 24 hours of that victory she was beginning to get excited about the trip to the Armory track in New York this weekend and an opportunity to further test out her new abilities.

And the speed queen is adamant that whether she becomes an Olympian or not, she will do everything in her considerable power to try and achieve that lofty goal.

?I feel this is going to be a big season for me,? Couper told from her Stanford University training base.

?I feel really good at the moment and I was surprised how comfortable I felt winning (the Husky Indoor Invitational).

?I was pretty happy with my time for an oversized track and I am feeling good.?

Much as that was a satisfying win, there is no escaping the shadow of Athens that will hover over everything she does in the next few months.

Having not run outdoors since the Pan-Am Games last year, she feels that next time she runs record a time, it will be noticeably below her current 4.18 best.

But how big is the 11 seconds needed to qualify?

?It is pretty big, well, it is massive really,? she continued. ?But it is something I am really going to go for. I am training really, really well and I just feel so strong at the moment.

?To say that I am confident I can do it would not be right, but I am certainly going to give it my all.

?It is a case of staying injury-free and putting everything I have into it. If I don?t get there I will have run pretty hard trying.?

As well as the 1500 metres, Couper is keeping an eye on her 800 metre times, where she currently falls nearly five seconds behind the qualifying time.