LESS than a second separated Collis Birmingham from his Commonwealth Games dream in 2006.Tomorrow, the middle-distance runner will leave his London training base for Delhi, where he is scheduled to contest the 5000m and 10,000m in his Games debut.That split-second more than four years ago has added plenty of spark to Birmingham's race.He will arrive in Delhi as the Australian 10,000m record holder, an Olympian and IAAF track and field world championship competitor.Birmingham's lead-up to the Games has been gathering pace since the Australian national championships, where he posted his 5000m A-qualifier, in April.His focus in the past month has been on strength and core work with his brother Joel.The Nic Bideau-trained athlete trekked overseas in late April for the American and European athletics seasons.He had a tough start to competition, suffering bad blisters in Philadelphia's Penn Relays after losing a shoe mid-race.Birmingham soon bounced back, slicing almost four seconds off his 5000-metre personal best in July.His time of 13 minutes, 10.97 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, consolidated Birmingham's status as theall-time second fastest Australian over 5000m and edges the Eureka athlete closer to Craig Mottram's national record of 12:58.93.The effort was a year to the date that he last posted a personal best over 5000m in Norway.Eugene was also his IAAF Diamond League series debut.This European season, Birmingham also clocked a 1500m personal best of 3:35.50 in Brussels, Belgium, and a new 3000m personal best in Rieti, Italy.Birmingham has opted to contest the 5000m and 10,000m events in Delhi, thanks to a favourable fixture.The 5000m straight final will be run five days before the 10,000m straight final.He contested both events at last year's IAAF world championships in Berlin, in which he withdrew from the 10,000m event at the 8000m-mark of the race before going on to finish 16th over 5000m, stopping the clock at 13:55.58.Smashing a personal best was how Birmingham secured his Olympic A-qualifier for 5000m in 2008, making sure he emphatically made the cut.His 2010 Commonwealth Games place was firmed when he sliced two seconds off a 12-year-old Australian 10,000m record - bettering his personal best by 40 seconds - at an American college track event last year.It was his sixth personal best run that season.Birmingham's family said he was looking forward to what he might achieve in Delhi, especially after coming so close to tasting Commonwealth Games action four years ago.