13th March 2013 12:39
A month ago, one of the legends of the discus world turned 41, but do not think he is settling down for retirement.
This weekend Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna will be taking his place among a galaxy of stars in the Northern Spanish province of Castellon for European Athletics' European Cup Winter Throwing.
It is the 13th staging of the event and it brings together some of the biggest and best names in the field events.
Alekna's participation is proof that the career of the Olympic champion from Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004 is far from over.
But in this competition featuring all four throwing disciplines -Shot put, Discus, Hammer and Javelin - the quality is outstanding.
In the hammer, both Olympic champions will be in action.
With a throw of 80.59m, Krisztian Pars, of Hungary, won the gold medal in London last summer, just a few weeks after he had triumphed at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki with 79.72m.
The line-up in the women's hammer is topped by Russian Tatyana Lysenko, who threw 78.18m to win in London and add the Olympic gold medal to the World Championship title she had lifted in Daegu 12 the year earlier.
Less than two weeks ago, Russian shot-putter Yevgeniya Kolodko was on the podium at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg, winning silver with 19.04m and missing out on gold by just 21 centimetres as Germany's Christiana Schwanitz took the gold.
In London, 22 centimetres was the difference as Kolodko finished second at the Olympic Games with a personal best throw of 20.48m, from the final round, which was not enough to overhaul gold medallist Valerie Adams, from New Zealand.
It is a big year for Russian javelin thrower Mariya Abakumova and this event will be a good test for the summer ahead. Not only is she world champion, after her 71.99m effort brought gold and a national record in Daegu in 2011, she will now defend that title on home soil in Moscow in August.
Russia will also be at the forefront of the men's javelin competition this weekend in Spain as Dmitriy Tarabin, Valeriy Iordan and Aleksey Tovarnov all take part.
In the few events so far in 2013, the trio have shown fine starts to the year.
Tarabin is top of the European Athletics' rankings with 85.63m, Iordan is second with 83.56m and Tovarnov is fourth with 82.54m.