TOM Lancashire gets a second chance in five days to get the Olympic qualifying time at the Bislett Games in Oslo on Thursday night.

The Bolton 1500m star was just 1.57secs outside the qualifying standard of 3:36.2 with his fastest time for six years at the Birmingham Diamond League meeting in Birmingham on Sunday.

Lancashire who competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and became Britain's number one with his best season in 2010 after which he suffered illness and injury problems.

He has been trying to return to his best form ever since and has been slowly getting there over the last couple of years.

After an encouraging 3:39.95 in Ostrava a fortnight ago in his first high-profile race of the summer, the 30-year-old Bolton Harrier showed he is almost back to his best form on Sunday.

He looked strong throughout in a top-class field in which the winner – the 2008 Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop – won in the fastest time ever recorded in Britain, 3:29.33.

That run has given Bromley Cross man and ex-Turton High School pupil Lancashire a boost to his confidence, and he believes there is enough improvement left in him to get the qualifying time for this year's Rio Games – possibly in Norway on Thursday night.

"I was pretty happy with how I felt in the race at Birmingham but left the race a bit frustrated with my execution." he said.

"I don't think I was aggressive enough in the second half of the race which cost me.

"I'm confident the qualifying time is there in my legs though and I have another chance in Oslo to go and get it.

"It was another two-second improvement on Sunday and my fastest time since 2010 so a lot of positives.

"I just need another 1.5 seconds!"