It would be easy to think that the men's hammer competition at this weekend's European Cup Winter Throwing in Leiria on 15-16 March is all about two athletes - Hungary’s Krisztian Pars, the Olympic champion, and Poland's Pawel Fajdek, the World champion.
But it’s Belarusian Pavel Kryvitski who has made the best start to 2014 and might have the biggest say of all.
A year ago in Castellon, as Pars won with a throw of 77.24m and Fajdek finished third with 75.52m, the pair was separated by Kryvitski's 75.89m.
Now 29, Kryvitski, the European Under-23 champion from 2005, has set down the early marker this year with a brilliant 79.21m in Stayki last month.
It is still a stage of the season when Europe's leading outdoor field eventers are just setting out on the long road towards the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August, but this distance is impressive whatever time of year.
So much so it would have left Kryvitski tenth in the world rankings in 2013, and not far away from his last year’s best of 79.36m.
But now he enters as the world leader in Portugal where, in a field of 22 on Saturday, he will face Pars, who has thrown 78.96m this year and Fajdek, who has yet to compete.
Pars will be the defending champion in Zurich - like he will be on Saturday - and though he might have been favourite in Moscow at the IAAF World Championships last August, the tide was turned in a stunning first round as Fajdek delivered a world lead and personal best of 81.97m which carried him to gold.
Pars, who was suffering with a shoulder problem, still delivered an opening 80.30m for silver in a final which Kryvitski did not qualify for.
There might still be five months until Zurich but psychologically, this opening exchange in Portugal is a crucial starting point.
The women's discus in Moscow saw France's Melina Robert-Michon produce a national record of 66.28m when she won silver behind Croatia's Sandra Perkovic with 67.99m and this weekend she has the chance to land this European Cup Winter Throwing title having also taken silver in this event in 2013.
Twelve months ago she was beaten by Germany's Nadine Muller - 66.69m to 61.26m - but Robert-Michon has by far the best distance among the participants this year.
The women's javelin could become a German duel between Linda Stahl, the European champion in 2010 and Olympic bronze medallist from London, and her teammate Katharina Molitor and it could be a similar story in the men's competition.
Germany has two strong entries with Lars Hamann and Thomas Rohler. On 2013 distances, they are the leading two in the field with Hamann having thrown 84.20m and Rohler 83.95m.
Three of the women's shot put finallists from the IAAF World Indoor Championships a week ago meet again.
They are led by Russia's Olympic silver medallist Yevgeniya Kolodko, who was fourth in Poland with 19.11m, finishing ahead of Hungary's Anita Marton, who was sixth with 18.17m and Yuliya Leantsiuk, of Belarus, who was seventh with 18.16m. The men's shot put will feature Russian Aleksandr Lesnoy, who was eighth in Sopot.
Martina Hrasnova, of Slovakia, the European silver medallist, will be the woman to beat in the hammer while in the men's discus, Spain's Frank Casanas, at 35, and Türkiye's Ercument Olgundeniz, at 37, might be the two oldest in the event but they have the leading personal bests of 67.91m and 67.50m respectively.
Schedule:
Saturday
Senior
Men's discus, hammer; women's javelin, shot put.
Under-23s
Men's hammer, discus; women's javelin, shot put.
SundaySenior
Men's shot put, javelin; women's discus, hammer.
Under-23s
Men's shot put, javelin; women's hammer, discus.