FIFTEEN centimetres is such a short distance but it is causing Rebecca White absolute torment.

Those six inches could mean the difference between the 21-year-old reaching the Commonwealth Games or sitting at home in the Valley and watching them.

Rebecca, who was born in Rawtenstall, is hoping to take part in the triple jump and her personal best at the moment is 12.85m.

The British number three needs to get 13m to be able to compete in the Commonwealth Games this summer in Manchester and it is beginning to prove a bit of a burden now.

Rebecca, who is studying at Bath University, needed the 13m all last season and thought she had got it.

"I was taking part in the Under 23 Championships at Bedford and I jumped 13.09. I was so pleased when it was measured and then I walked towards the lady who records the wind back up the track and it was 2.2 so it meant it was wind assisted and didn't count.

"At the time I thought 'never mind I'll get it next time' and I kept waiting on my jump hoping the wind would die down.

"But you only get a minute and it never did so I didn't break it - and I have been waiting ever since!"

Rebecca has done some competing in recent weeks in the build up to the summer but she fears that it will come down to the Commonwealth Games trials in June.

She has taken part in British University events - where she is a regular winner - the AAA's Indoor Championships in Cardiff and an invitation international but the 13m is still proving elusive.

"In my last jump at the British Universities the team were cheering me on as they knew how much I wanted to get it.

"I did it and it was 13 metres but I was a fraction over the board and they gave me a no jump. I was gutted!"

The former Blackburn AC athlete, who is now a member of Sale Harriers, has spent the early competitions this season working on her run-up with technique vital to getting the 13m.

She is faster this year, having worked on her speed with her coach Darcy Cummings over the winter - while also studying and working at Blockbuster video for up to ten hours a week to make some cash.

"I am faster but I have been using a shorter run-up this season," she explained.

"I have been using a 13 metre run-up in a bid to get my technique right when really I hope to use a 15m or 17m run-up in the summer so that I build up a bigger speed and can therefore jump further.

"But getting it right is vital. You have got to get the phases - the hop, the skip and the jump - right. If you don't, and you don't get your foot in the right position, you then lose the impetus, the hips aren't in the right position and the body collapses.

"I am concentrating on the speed at the moment and trying - hard - not to worry about the distance but it is easier said than done."

Rebecca does have the pleasure of warm weather training in Malaga next month to prepare for the June trials.

"I'm looking forward to Malaga but the moment we had agreed to this trip Ashia Hansen's coach rang and asked us if we wanted to go to Portugal training with them. It would have been great but it wasn't to be."

Ashia Hansen is the current Commonwealth Champion and the British number one with regular jumps over 14m.

"I haven't spoken to her much to be honest and have only competed against her twice but she will be favourite," said Rebecca.

The British number two is Michelle Griffiths but she was struggling with injury last season.

Although Rebecca is trailing these, she is hopeful to get there eventually and taking part in the Commonwealth Games would be a huge step forward in her career.

"It would be my first major senior tournament but I daren't look too far forward," she said.

"First I have a British Universities competition in May, that will be my next one, and then one more competition before the trials.

"I hope I have jumped 13m by then. If I have done it, then I just have to come in the top three in the trials.

"If I don't do it then I have to do it in the Manchester Stadium and that's that.

"I do try not to think about the 13m when I am competing. I can't let it get to me as when I did last season, my jumps just got worse and worse."

So it is the full focus on the trials where Rebecca will probably have around six jumps to get past that mark.

"My training has gone well this winter. I'm further forward than I was at this stage last season and now I just have to transfer it into competition.

"It is all about power and speed and it is a very tiring event. People think how can that be tiring? They only run up and jump but it really is. It's physical and mental and takes a lot out of you.

"It is also hard as you are waiting around for the other people to jump and you have to try and keep occupied and keep concentrating."

The Games are still five months away - and Rebecca won't let herself dream about being there yet.

"I would love to get to the Games, although I daren't even think about it. I would love to get a personal best there. I think at the Games there will be three jumps and then those who have jumped more than 14m - or the top 12 - will reach the final.

"For me, in my first major senior championships, a personal best would be nice and if I reach the final that would be fantastic."

And she is hoping for a television debut. In the televised AAA's Championship in Cardiff earlier this month she hardly got a show on tv despite finishing third.

"My grandma and grandad haven't been able to get tickets for the Games but if I get there, hopefully they will show the British competitors on the television," she said. "Then they can sit at home and cheer me on."