Shot put heavyweights Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill are finally set to clash at the national track and field championships today.
Both have been sidelined with minor injuries the past couple of months, meaning the two are yet to compete against one another this season.
However, that should change at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin at 12.15pm today, when the two duel for the national title.
Walsh (24), who is originally from Timaru, is chasing a seventh consecutive title, while Gill (21) is hoping to avoid being the South Cantabrian's bridesmaid a third-year running.
At last year's national championships in Wellington, Walsh beat his Auckland rival by 40cm with a 20.73m put.
While the pair have not yet met this season, there has still been plenty of banter between them.
Gill beat Walsh's residents record by 4cm in Christchurch with a personal-best 20.83m put last month, before Walsh took it back with a 20.91m effort in Auckland last week.
Walsh, who had to watch Gill break his residents record on his home turf from the sideline, said Gill held the record "two weeks too long''.
While there is no doubt a healthy rivalry between the pair, it has never reached any real heights, because Gill has steered clear of his rival as he got to terms with competing in the senior ranks.
Walsh, the national record holder (21.62m), is in Dunedin only for the day. He will jump on a plane to Melbourne tonight so he can compete in the Melbourne World Challenge this weekend.
He and Gill will both compete in the world indoor championships in Portland later this month.
Across the field from Walsh, Gill and Otago's Jerram Huston, Aucklander Matthew Bloxham will attempt to defend his hammer throw title from 12.25pm.
Bloxham, who was in Dunedin for a hammer festival late last year, will be joined by three Otago athletes - Bryn McLeod-Jones, Todd Bates and Mike Scholten - in a nine-strong field.
There will also be plenty of good action on the track today, including the men's and women's 100m events.
Heats for the under-18, under-20 and seniors will be held in the morning, before the finals - including the men's and women's para 100m - are held from 4.40pm.
The women's senior 5000m race at 3.15pm will feature two-time national champion Camille Buscomb and Aucklander Lucy Oliver. Both are chasing a Rio qualifying time of 15min 18sec.
New Zealand triathlete Andrea Miller is also entered in the event.
The last event of the day, the senior men's 5000m at 5.30pm, has lost some of its shine with Malcolm Hicks and Aaron Pulford competing in Melbourne.
However, that could open the door for Otago runners Joshua Baan and Caden Shields to push for a podium spot.
While fans will have to wait until Sunday afternoon to see two-time Olympic shot put gold medallist Valerie Adams in action, pole vault sensation Eliza McCartney will be on show tomorrow afternoon from 2.45pm.
Otago's Andrew Whyte, the top-ranked 400m runner in the country, is the favorite to win the national 400m title tomorrow, his first since 2013. Canterbury's Angie Petty, who finished fifth in the 800m at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, will feature in the women's senior 800m tomorrow.
Her personal-best over 800m (1min 59.06sec) netted her a gold medal at last year's World University Games in South Korea.
Petty will also compete in the 1500m on Sunday.
If she completes the 800m and 1500m double, it will match her efforts from 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Sunday's men's 1500m should come down to a battle between Wellington's Hamish Carson and Hawkes Bay's Eric Speakman.
Both recently clocked sub-4min miles, and Carson edged Speakman in the 1500m at last week's Auckland Track Challenge.
While Otago does not have a heap of athletics in the medal hunt in the senior grade, it has a bunch of para, under-18 and under-20 athletes who are expected to make the podium.
The three-day national championships double as a compulsory Olympic qualifier.
However, a bunch of athletes, including 1500m ace Nick Willis, have been granted release to pursue competition elsewhere.
