Track is back and it's shaping up for a sizzling summer. World Cup years, wedged right in between Olympics, are generally periods when the sport takes a back seat.
And with the pervading whiff of doping scandals and the sport's struggle to replace megastars such as Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson, athletics has lost its lustre. But finally two men are offering up a fascinating rivalry that has the potential to provide the unchallenged highlight in Beijing.
So who is the world's fastest human? Is it American Justin Gatlin or Jamaica's Asafa Powell? For the moment at least it belongs to them both - a prize split right down the middle, leaving intense rivals locked in an uneasy partnership.
Gatlin won the Athens Olympics title, with Powell trailing in fifth place, and then took a world championship gold medal home from Helsinki last year. Powell, plagued by recurring injuries, came back with a bang last June when he ran 9.77 seconds in Athens to claim the 100 metres world record.
Gatlin, the pundits opined, couldn't run record-breaking times but had the ability to come through in big races. As for Powell, he was the world's fastest man on a good day, but he lacked courage and choked on the big stage.
Both men vehemently disagree with those assessments and, like heavyweights before a bout, have filled the air with rants and braggadocio.