Birmingham - World record-holder Maurice Greene heads the 60-metre field, and Olympic women's pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva aims to raise the world mark she set over the weekend.
That's what awaits at Friday's Birmingham indoor meet.
The event usually provides at least one world record, and running stars Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and Kenya's Bernard Lagat could also get close on the National Indoor Arena track at the Norwich Union International meet.
A three-time world 100-metre champion who also won the Olympic title in Sydney, Greene comes up against one of the men who pushed him back to third at last year's games in Athens.
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Although gold medalist Justin Gatlin isn't in the field, Olympic runner-up Francis Obikwelu of Portugal runs in the 60 metres along with current world 100-metre champion Kim Collins.
Greene also runs against two of the men who edged him for the relay gold medal in Athens: Britons Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener. Gardener, the world indoor champion, says he's capable of breaking Greene's world record of 6.39 seconds.
"Good luck," Greene said. "I'm not going to say it can't happen but we'll have to wait and see. This is my first race so we'll see what happens."
A former world record-holder outdoors, Greene says he will run just one more indoor meet in France and then return home to prepare for the outdoor season.
"I kind of injured myself in the (Olympic) relay leg so, since Athens, I have just rehabed myself and let my body heal up," Greene said.
Isinbayeva chases her 11th career world record after raising the indoor mark to 4.87 metres at the "Pole Vault Stars" event at Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. She already holds the outdoor world record - 4.91 during last year's Olympics.
This time she competes against her regular rival and countrywoman Svetlana Feofanova, who held the world record before Isinbayeva took control of the discipline.
At last year's Birmingham indoor meet, Bekele beat Haile Gebrselassie's five-year-old world record for 5 000m, and this time is out to beat his fellow Ethiopian's mark for the two miles.
Bekele, who made his American debut at the Boston Indoor Games on January 29, also holds world records outdoors at 5 000m and 10 000. But he has had to cope with the death of his fiance of an apparent heart attack as they were training on January 4. They planned to be married in May.
Lagat chases the world's best time over 1 000m when he runs against Ivan Heshko of Ukraine. The Kenyan set a meet and Madison Square Garden record of 3 minutes, 52.87 seconds in the featured Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games on February 5.
Carolina Kluft, considered the best woman athlete in the world after adding the Olympic heptathlon gold medal to her world title, competes in the long jump and the 60m hurdles.
Although the Swede is just 22, she has been winning major titles since she was a teenager and hasn't been beaten in a multi-event competition since the 2002 European Indoor championship. - Sapa-AP
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