Two Kiwis with vastly contrasting build-ups will be on the start-line at this weekend's Ironman World Championships in Utah.
Former bricklayer-turned professional athlete Kyle Smith is still pinching himself about the chance to race in his second Ironman, while NZ champion Braden Currie's got redemption on his mind.
Deep in the Utah desert, Currie is a man on a mission, preparing for his third crack at the world title.
"I always have pretty high expectations of myself," Currie told Newshub.
And he expects to improve on his fifth-place finish at the 2018 world champs and seventh a year later.
"A bit of luck needs to go your way," Currie continued. "But the work I've put in should put me in a good position.
"It's a pretty hilly course, it's a pretty exposed windy course... it should make for pretty tough race conditions and that tends to work in my favour."
Currie's certainly in a good frame of mind. He won Ironman New Zealand in 2021 and the Coast to Coast in February - and he's convinced he's a much better athlete now.
"[I'm] a lot more experienced than before. I know if I race as well as I can, it will lead to a really good race. As long as I stick to my plan, I should be up the pointy end of the race and that's shown in the past in world champs."
Also hoping to impress at the other end of the experience spectrum is Smith, 24, who'll compete over the full distance for just the second time.
"It hasn't really sunk in that I'm racing in a world champs on Saturday," Smith told Newshub. "Twelve months ago, I was a bricklayer and trying to make it work to make rent.
"Suddenly, I'm here with these athletes who I've literally idolised."
Smith's now ready to put all that aside and go head to head with the best in the world.
"I'm just excited to race against the big boys and be a fox in the henhouse.
"It's become my wheelhouse to just send it from the gun. There's definitely going to be an element of sending it and seeing where you end up.
"Everyone's equal as soon as the gun goes off. On a course like this, it's just going to be a case of who doesn't give up."
He'll need to be at his best to do so, with a star-studded field that includes a highly motivated Currie stand in his way.
