When you are the youngest competitor in a field of nine including the world record-holder and the reigning world and European champions, it could be a frightening prospect – except nothing seems to daunt Croatian javelin thrower Sara Kolak.
After all, she does hold the biggest title of them all – Olympic champion, an honour she achieved with an unexpected national record to shock her rivals in Rio de Janeiro last summer.
Kolak is not 22 until next month and on Friday night in Eugene, she will compete at the third Diamond League meeting of the year, the first time the women’s javelin has been held on the programme this year.
It could be amazing few months for Kolak who has her eye on double gold: first in Bydgoszcz in July at the European Athletics U23 Championships and then a month later at the World Championships in London.
Having already won the U23 competition at the European Throwing Cup in Las Palmas in March with 61.01m - preceded by a 65m-plus throw at home in Split in February - Kolak is primed for success ahead of her first competition of the summer season.
“My preparation went well,” said Kolak. “With my coach Andrej Hajnsek we made one, even maybe two steps forward. But the most important thing is to stay healthy. We go step by step, I hope to show my shape on Friday.”
If she does, her biggest rivals will be watching just a few metres away. Among others, Kolak will face the Czech Republic’s world record-holder Barbora Spotakova; the European champion Tatsiana Khaladovich from Belarus; Germany’s world champion Katharine Molitor; and Latvia’s 2016 Diamond League winner Madara Palameika.
An excellent line-up has been assembled for the javelin at the Prefontaine Classic on 27 May, including five of Europe's finest throwers. pic.twitter.com/ED2DkvKiQn
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) March 30, 2017
All those champions will also be keeping a close eye on China’s Liu Shiying, who last Sunday in Kawasaki broke the Asian record with 66.47m.
After winning a bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam with a national record of 63.50m, Kolak improved to 64.30m in the qualifying round in Rio de Janeiro before soaring to Olympic gold with a fourth round throw of 66.18m.
Spotakova, who was chasing a hat-trick of Olympic titles, had to settle for bronze with 64.80m while Khaladovich and Palameika finished fifth and tenth respectively.
Kolak had arrived on the world stage and there was nothing the rest of the world could do. Now, as she says, for the next step…