Australian discus king Matt Denny is chasing his first world championships medal in Tokyo and will do it alongside the man he regards as both the benchmark and a drinking buddy: world record holder Mykolas Alekna.
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Denny and the 22-year-old Lithuanian took the sport to new heights with the benefit of tailwinds at an event in Ramona, Oklahoma, in April and will battle again at Tokyo National Stadium this weekend.
"We're vicious competitors and there's banter - but we're not vicious in tongue," Denny told Reuters of his relationship with Alekna.
"He's a good kid. He was very quiet when he first hit the Diamond Leagues (DL), but I’ve brought him out of his shell a bit.
"We went out after the Brussels DL, had a few beers - fun night. Some guys mix, some don’t. For us, we’ve got a great relationship."
At "Throw Town" in Ramona, Alekna smashed his own world record with a heave of 75.56m, which triggered some questions about the venue's engineered design.
Unlike track events and the horizontal jumps, discus has no limits on wind assistance when validating records.
Denny, 29, was not far behind Alekna in Oklahoma, throwing 74.78m to beat his personal best.
The pair may not match the fireworks they produced in Middle America but will back themselves to stand on the podium again a year on from the Paris Games where they both earned their first Olympic medals.
Alekna took silver and Denny the bronze behind Jamaica's surprise winner Roje Stona.
Alekna has already claimed two world medals, bronze in Budapest behind Swedish winner Daniel Stahl in 2023, a year after being second to Slovene Kristjan Ceh at Eugene, Oregon.
It helps that his dad Virgilijus is among the sport's all-time greats, a winner of back-to-back Olympic golds at Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
"He's got some good genes - but I think pretty much the whole discus park does," said Denny.
"I grew up idolising Virgilijus as a competitor along with guys like Mac Wilkins and a few others.
"When you get to meet those guys, they're just super lovely.
"It's always an enjoyable experience because it's just dudes that enjoy the event.
"There's no ego, they just enjoy what they do, and they love it. And you can see that now Virgilijus, Mykolas and his brother Martynas as well."
'HAVE A CRACK'
One of eight siblings, Denny grew up on a hobby farm in rural Queensland where he would throw discus at a cubby house on the property.
His local town of Allora, population 1 205, has rallied around Denny for over a decade and launched a crowdfunding campaign to get him to his first Olympics at Rio 2016.
After finishing fourth at Tokyo, Denny said he put a lot of pressure on himself to claim his breakthrough medal at Paris and was now enjoying more time at home with his wife.
Since his blazing start to the season in Oklahoma, the results have been flatter in the first year of the new Olympic cycle but Denny is unfazed.
"We want to be world champions, not good in the middle of the season," he said.
"Last year I might’ve been more stressed. Now I know exactly where I need to be.
"Once the day comes, it's wind it up and have a crack."