It is the start of the IAAF Diamond League season in Doha on Friday evening - and ‘start’ could be the key word for two Europeans in what should be one of the races of the night.
Sprint hurdlers Sergey Shubenkov and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde are the men likely to be vying for gold at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich in August, but for now it is about beating the world champion.
David Oliver took the title in Moscow last summer when he finished ahead of fellow American Ryan Wilson. The duo are part of the 110m hurdles field which is so competitive that the explosive burst to the opening barrier might decide who wins.
That was the case at the World Championships last summer as Oliver just about led at the first hurdle and powered away after that.
Russian Shubenkov came storming through then for bronze in 13.24 as Oliver won in 13.00 with Wilson second in 13.13.
Shubenkov will feel he has a bit to prove, though, as he returns to the major stage after a disappointing winter. He failed to make the 60m hurdles final at the World Indoor Championships, he has looked at his training process as to why that happened and this race could be a useful gauge for a summer where he will be defending his European crown.
As Shubenkov missed out in Sopot in March, Frenchman Martinot-Lagarde completed his fine winter by taking silver in 7.46, beaten by just 0.01 of a second by American Omo Osaghee.
Ahead of those World Indoor Championships, Russia’s Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov had been the leading light with some magnificent performances all winter, topped by his 2.42m in Prague in February, equalling the second best of all-time.
But he could not turn that success into gold in Sopot as Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim beat him on countback as both men cleared 2.38m.
The appearance of Barshim will raise the noise level in front of his own crowd this evening but while Ukhov, no doubt, will be seeking a bit of revenge in his first competition of the season, he will also have to be aware of Canadian Derek Drouin who last month in Des Moines cleared an impressive 2.40m.
European presence is strong in the men’s discus with Poland’s Piotr Malachowski and Estonia’s Gerd Kanter facing Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi while in the women’s triple jump, Ukrainian Olha Saladuha, who will be chasing a hat-trick of golds in Zurich, meets Columbia’s World champion Caterine Ibarguen.
The Diamond League will run over the next four months with the final meeting in Brussels on September 5.