Sometime soon - maybe even as soon as tonight - New Zealand will celebrate a new men's national record over 400 metres, as two of our most promising sprinters close in on a longstanding target.
The current mark of 46.09s was set by Cantabrian Shaun Farrell in 1998, so it's way overdue for improvement.
At the time, Farrell's performance shaved just one-hundredth of a second off the previous record, set by Bevan Smith 23 years before that, so the event hasn't seen much improvement locally in half a century. While 46 seconds may have proved an elusive benchmark, it hardly rates on the international stage these days.
"It's time we got that down to 45s," confirmed Tommy Te Puni, one of two immediate candidates eyeing Kiwi history.
"The 400m hurdles world record is faster than that currently, which is a bit bad, but I'm fully confident we will take that below and then to that world class level, for sure.
"I think I'm very capable of taking it deep into the 45s and beyond. The timeframe for that, I'm not sure."
Norwegian Karsten Warholm holds the global hurdles mark at 45.94s.
Te Puni, 22, may have already gone faster, but a timing malfunction in Auckland early last summer denied him a possible record. Since then, he has clocked an official 46.28s, followed by 46.41s in unfavourable conditions in Brisbane two months ago.
His rival for the record is two-time national champion Lex Revell-Lewis, 20, who went within a few centimetres with 46.12s last March and clocked 46.22s two weeks ago in his first attempt this summer.
"That was my second-fastest time over the distance, but I felt like it was a pretty terrible race from me," reflected Revell-Lewis. "The fact I ran so fast, very close to the national record, and I'm a lot faster than I was two weeks ago, if I get my race plan right, I'm going to smash the national record."
Te Puni, whose father Roger won 11 national high jump titles between 1982-94, and Revell-Lewis have taken quite different paths to this point of their campaigns, with Te Puni pumping out fast times over 100m (10.34s wind assisted) and 200m (20.75s into a stiff headwind) through November and December.
Revell-Lewis extended last season's racing itinerary with a brief European stint and has made a later return to the track this month, highlighted by a windy 10.39s 100m on the same day as his 400m debut.
Their performances in competition and training suggest the record is there for the taking - it's just a matter of when and who.
"I think I'm in pretty good shape and looking forward to running, especially having good competition from Lex," said Te Puni. "He's been running really well, and it's good for us and good for athletics in New Zealand to have soon-to-be the two best 400m runners in history at the same time."
The rivalry has sparked some social media banter, with both athletes hoping to contest the world championships in Tokyo - the automatic qualifying standard is 44.85s - and the world university championships also a real prospect. Both are well under the 49.00s standard for Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
With 400 metres representing one lap of an athletics track, runners will inevitably strike a headwind somewhere in their journey. Wellington is forecast for northerlies, which will likely hit them around the final bend into the home straight at Newtown Stadium, where Revell-Lewis won his second national title last March.
"There have been a lot of good changes to my training," he said. "I've done a lot of gym stuff, so I feel very strong.
"My race plan is to get around to 300 metres in about 32.7s - I've done it in training before, so I know I can do it - and then close in about 12.6s. That adds up to 45.3s.
"I understand it is Wellington, so there will be a bit of wind and times may not be as fast, but those are my race targets."
If the record eludes them this week, their next opportunity will come at the Sir Graeme Douglas International meet at Waitakere on 9 February.
