It is going to be like old times at the Letzigrund Stadium on Sunday when Sandra Eriksson of Finland and Sweden’s Charlotta Fougberg slug it out over the barriers in the 3000m steeplechase final.
Finland versus Sweden was a staple of the inter-war years when world records fell like autumn leaves across Scandinavia.
This time it is down to a duel between two individuals who have been dismantling their country’s respective records over the summer.
Since 2009 they have met five times, with Eriksson the victor on four of those occasions.
But on the one occasion they have met so far this summer, it was the Swede who got the upper hand in Glasgow when she took her national record down to 9:23.96 with Eriksson ending on 9:24.70.
The two of them lead the continental standings and no one else in the final has gone under 9:30 this year so it looks like a cut and dried battle between the two.
After qualifying on Friday morning in Zurich, Eriksson urged caution: “I just wanted to stay out of trouble and the main objective was just to finish first, second, third or even fifth.”
In a tactical race, it is not necessarily the fastest who wins. But one thing neither woman can be faulted on is confidence.
Fougberg is unfazed by the label of being biggest Swedish gold medal hope at these European Athletics Championships and has taken to calling herself the Golden Girl on social media.
Speaking to the Swedish press on the run-in to Zurich she said: “I believe very much in the mental part, if I decide to go for gold then I can take it.”
Eriksson seems equally relaxed. Despite being outpaced over the final lap by Fougberg in Glasgow, she believes she is capable of reversing the positions in the final: “I believe I’ve got a better sprint than Charlotta,” she claims.
Both women took the qualifying rounds in their strides without mishap. Eriksson saw it as the difficult bit: “The worst and hardest part is over,” she said. “Now the only thing left is the fun.”
One thing that unites them is language because Eriksson is a Swedish speaking Finn from the coastal village of Nykarleby in the north west of the country.
Now 25, four years younger than Fougberg, she has been hurdling the barriers since she was 14 but soon discovered that if she were to progress she was going to have to look elsewhere for a coach.
She found him in Stockholm last autumn where she now lives and trains under the eye of Oscar Gidewall and she admits that the effect on her technique has been very positive.
There is one thing Gidewall has yet to correct, however, and it could play a vital role on Sunday. Although she has tried to eradicate it, Eriksson still lands with both feet in the water jump creating a momentary full-stop to forward motion: “It is a bit of a problem,” she says with some understatement.
While Fougberg has been preparing at altitude in St. Moritz until Thursday, Eriksson has been in Zurich all week.
Sunday will show whose approach has been the most effective. But there is one thing they both agree on. They both think they are more than capable of taking ten more seconds off their national records. Just don’t expect it on Sunday.