In the European Athletics Team Championships First League in Tallinn on Saturday and Sunday, Hungary have in their midst an Olympic champion who has hit form at just the right time. Could this be the weekend when Krisztian Pars rewrites a new piece of sporting history for himself?
It is now three years since Pars set the record distance for the hammer at these Championships when he won the event in Izmir.
That day he achieved 80.14m, and the mark is one of 11 of the 40 event records which have happened outside of the Super League.
The newest was from discus thrower Sandra Perkovic, of Croatia, with 65.77m in the Second League in Kaunas 12 months ago, but Pars will be sensing that maybe it is time for a revision of his mark.
He will arrive in Tallinn throwing further than when he won the Olympic title in London in 2012.
Then, he triumphed with 80.59m, and now he is top of the world rankings with 81.57m after a superb performance in Ostrava on Monday night.
It could be another big year on the European stage for Pars, who will defend his title at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August.
Along with Hungary and Estonia, the host nation, the First League comprises of Belgium, Belarus, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia.
Pars is the stand-out performer in the hammer, with his nearest rival on 2014 distances being Finland’s David Soderberg with 75.35m.
Belarus, Greece and Norway have dropped into the First League after relegation from the Super League in Gateshead while the promoted teams are Slovenia, who won the Second League, and Lithuania.
Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee is the clear favourite in the 400m, while the men’s pole vault has the presence of Greece’s Konstadinos Filippidis.
It has been some year, so far, for Filippidis, who won the IAAF world indoor title in Sopot in March when he cleared 5.80m.
Last year when Dublin staged the First League, Ireland’s double SPAR European Cross Country champion Fionnuala Britton had to miss out because of illness but she is back as an integral part of the squad, running the 5000m, which could be some race.
Britton, with a season’s best of 15:45.20, faces Belgium’s Almensch Belete, who has produced a superb 15:12.26 in 2014, while Portugal’s Ana Dulce Felix is one of Europe’s most consistent distance runners. She is the defending European 10,000m champion and has a 5000m best this year of 15:52.31.
But history shows times are not always the gauge in Championship races and this trio is set to have quite a tussle over the 12.5 laps on the track.