The stars are out in force at the European Athletics Team Championships First League which takes place in Tallinn, Estonia, this weekend.
But pride of place must surely go to the big hitters starting with home grown discus specialist Gerd Kanter who has stood on the top step of the podium at both the Olympic and World championships and has a clutch of minor medals to back them up.
Kanter will be using the competition as a springboard to help him prepare for the summer European Championships when he hopes to clinch the only missing major gold from his cabinet.
A fellow Olympic champion will take to the hammer circle in the person of Krisztian Pars of Hungary who lifted gold in London two years ago but he is more than matched by Slovenia’s Primož Kozmus, Olympic champion from Beijing and Berlin World champion the following year.
Kozmus is a full 10m down on Pars this season which has seen the Hungarian approach the best form of his career but he has never competed in Estonia and does not know what the circle is like in the Kadriorg stadium and is wary of predicting big things.
The competition brings together the teams of Belgium, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia.
The top three gain promotion to the elite Super League so every point counts with men and women competing as one team in this event which is now five years old.
Norway has a strong team and will be looking to bounce back up into the top flight.
In the sprints Jaysuma Saidy Ndure stands out as the favourite to do the double while in the 3000m fellow Norwegian Henrik Ingebrigtsen is having a dream season.
Two years ago across the Gulf of Finland from here, Ingebrigtsen turned on the after burners to snatch European championship gold in Helsinki and this year he has sparkled with his national record in the mile at Bislett.
Times have also tumbled for Estonia’s Rasmus Mägi in the one lap hurdles. Bronze medallist from the European U23 Championships in Tampere last year he emerged from Tuesday’s meeting in Ostrava as third fastest in Europe with a classy 48:87.
Belgium’s Jonathan Borlée misses the 400m outing, preferring the relay because of infection while his brother Kevin goes for the 200m where he faces local Marek Niit as well as Ndure. Ireland’s Mark English and Paul Robinson will be hoping to make their mark in the middle distances.
Another heavyweight clash comes in the javelin where Finland’s Antti Ruuskanen pits himself against the host country’s Risto Mätas while Greece offers two quality competitors in Louis Tsatoumas in the long jump and Kostadinos Filippidis in the pole vault.
On the women’s side Slovenia’s Martina Ratej, who stands third in the European rankings for the year, is once again approaching her best shape that has seen her contest World and Olympic finals.
She appears to be rounding into shape just in time after her win in Ostrava earlier this week to add to her Diamond League win in Doha when she sent the javelin out to 65.48, her best mark for three seasons.
The 100m stars Norway’s Ezinne Okparaebo versus Andreea Ogrăzeanu of Romania who has recently reduced her career best to 11.31.
Ogrăzeanu, the European under-23 champion from three years ago, also runs in the 200m and will be eying the double. Her best of 22.91 comes from last year but with her improved 100m speed will be difficult to dislodge.
European bronze medallist from two years ago, Marina Arzamasova of Belarus is the pick of the 800m entrants with her sub-two minute clocking in Ostrava while in the 5000m Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton, former double European cross country champion, renews her rivalry with Belgium’s Almensch Belete who failed to finish her only competitive outing over the distance this year in Rome.
In the pole vault, Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi, European under-23 silver medallist from Kaunas, has enjoyed a rash of personal bests this year. Can she make it a sixth and improve on her 4.60 from New York?
We look forward to seeing the plot unravel over the weekend.