In the most individual of sports, the ethos of the MTC has often been likened to that of a football club, with members pushing each other to greater heights and celebrating each other's triumphs.

Ryan and Genevieve Gregson are the first couple of Australian athletics, on and off the track.

Late-blooming marathoner Sinead Diver is a prominent modern-day success story in a training squad which also includes the likes of Jack Rayner, Jordan Williamsz and Matthew Ramsden.

And then there's rising star Stewart McSweyn and Brett Robinson, who MTC coach Nic Bideau reckons are as close as any athletes he has ever encountered.

With the Tokyo Olympics pushed back a year and the global track and field circuit on hold until at least late 2020 - and quite possibly even longer - members of the MTC squad have scattered across the country.

The Gregsons are in the NSW town of Forster, middle-distance star Ramsden has returned to Western Australia and the likes of McSweyn, Robinson and Diver are at home in Melbourne, training alone or in pairs.

But they are all constantly in touch.

"You communicate with them as much as you can without being a pest," Bideau told AAP.

"Getting everyone together and training together is a unique thing for us but it's just not possible at the moment.

"We can't really measure our success because there's no competition.

"When competitions are back on the table we'll be straight back together again and pick up the pieces.

"I've got faith in these guys that they know what's expected of them, the level of excellence and the amount of effort required day in and day out.

"But they're not going to be as fit as they normally are because they don't need to be."

McSweyn and Robinson, in particular, were in great form before coronavirus brought world sport to a shuddering halt early this year.

The 24-year-old McSweyn smashed the Australian 10,000m record in December and has also posted Olympic qualifying times in the 1500m and 5000m.

His on-track mentor Robinson - who was primarily responsible for enticing McSweyn into the MTC fold - broke the Australian half-marathon record in Japan in February.

"People asked me if Brett doing that was a shock but it didn't surprise me because he's the only one who can keep up with Stewy in training," Bideau said.

"Everything has gone absolutely perfectly for Stewy since he started back at training in October.

"I thought he could do something amazing this year and I was really looking forward to what he could do in Tokyo.

"Now it's off the table this year we're just hoping, because we've got to do it all again and everything has to go perfectly again."

One thing's for sure; McSweyn and his running mates won't be lacking for support, when they're training solo and when things return to normal and they get the band back together.

"They're not meeting in training but they're still connecting on Zoom or WhatsApp because they've got such good relationships," Bideau said.

"They travel overseas together, they've lived in Spain together and in London together.

"They've been together in a lot of different situations and when you train really hard with someone you form a unique bond."

Australian Associated Press