They're both chasing the same Olympic dream but it's been a far different journey towards Rio for Australian triathletes Ashleigh Gentle and Courtney Atkinson.
Gentle, 25, is chasing her first Olympic berth, while 36-year-old Atkinson is pursuing a third Games after deciding at the start of 2015 he would have one more crack at Rio.
Both athletes can book their spots at Saturday's ITU World Series event on the Gold Coast.
Automatic places are up for grabs in both the men's and women's races to the highest-ranked Australian inside the top 10.
With only three spots for each gender up for grabs, it makes Saturday's event a potentially decisive one for many.
Gentle heads into the race the form Australian athlete after a second-placed finish at the series-opening race in Abu Dhabi last month.
Olympians Emma Moffatt and Emma Jackson are among those hoping to pip the hometown favourite to the automatic berth, but Gentle says her approach is not to focus too much on the prize at stake.
"It's a world series race and that's important," Gentle told AAP.
"The fact that we have Olympic qualification available as well is obviously at the forefront of my mind but I can't let it consume me too much. There's an extremely competitive field, as their always is for a world series race, so I really just have to think about that and race as I usually do."
Atkinson however is making no bones about the importance of this race as his best chance to reach the Games.
Aaron Royle has already sewn up a qualifying spot for Rio after finishing sixth at last year's test event in Brazil, making the competition even fiercer in the men's event.
Atkinson is up against Wollongong-based duo Ryan Bailie and Jake Birtwhistle for the spot, and even then a top 10 finish is far from guaranteed in a men's field that includes Spanish world No.1 Mario Mola and defending event champion and Olympic bronze medallist Johnathan Brownlee.
"In the end, this is a selection race," Atkinson said.
"It's not like we've got Australians who are placing at events either, we've got a group of Aussie men who are all scrapping around that top 10 finish. We're all very, very close in the sense of performances."
Last year's Gold Coast race marked Atkinson's return to Olympic distance racing and he came 10th, a good enough finish to get him that Games spot.
"Twelve months on I am definitely stronger across the board, there's no doubt I'm racing better," he said.
"I've just got to do it on the day."
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