Australian record holders Kathryn Mitchell and Stewart McSweyn will grab the attention of Ballarat in the track and field program at the Tokyo Olympic Games next week.
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Mitchell takes on the women's javelin in her third Olympic campaign, while McSweyn will be aiming to carry over his strong European form in his Games debut.
Mitchell, 39, holds the Australian record of 68.92m - thrown in winning gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games .
The Ballarat resident has had to work incredibly hard to get to Tokyo, describing the past few years as the toughest period of her long athletic career with injury and an inability to compete overseas, meaning time away from coach and partner Uwe Hohn.
Mitchell has the quality to be a medal chance, with top eight finishes at the past two Olympics and a fifth at the 2013 world championships.
She throws in the qualification round on Tuesday.
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McSweyn from King Island is one of Australia's best medal hopes on the track.
The 26-year-old, who spent the formative years of his career with Eureka Athletics Club while a Ballarat Clarendon College student, is tackling the 1500m.
McSweyn is the national 1500m, mile and 3000m recordholder - setting the 1500m and mile marks in Europe in July.
He qualified for the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m for the Olympics, but his latest form pointed him in the direction of the shortest distance of the three.
McSweyn contests the heats on Tuesday, with the semi-finals on Thursday and final on Saturday.
Ballarat's other interest in the athletics will be Canberra's Brett Robinson, who early in his career used the city as his training base while living with Olympian Collis Birmingham.
Like Mitchell and McSweyn, Robinson was also a Eureka club member in the Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre.
The 30-year-old has raced over various distances and at his second Olympics is taking on the marathon on the last day of competition on Sunday, August 8.
