Best friends Riley Day and Ella Connolly are living the dream together as the youngest members of the Australian team at the world athletics championships.
The 17-year-old sprinters have been inseparable ever since first meeting as Queensland teammates at the 2010 Australian primary school championships.
Day shot to national prominence when she squared off against Usain Bolt in the mixed relay at the Nitro Series in Melbourne in February.
But it was Connolly who was first to learn she was going to London for the world titles as a member of the women's 4x400m relay squad.
Day then got the latest of late call-ups when a vacancy opened up in the 200m as part of the IAAF's roll-down process.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Day had only recently returned home from the Bahamas, where she and Connolly had competed at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
All of a sudden, getting straight back into her Year 12 studies didn't seem quite so important.
"Who would pass up an opportunity like this?" Day said on Wednesday.
"There were a few pros and cons but the pros outweighed the cons because it's the world championships.
"I was definitely going to come, no matter what."
Connolly was just as excited - for both of them.
"I came into the camp on the first day and I absolutely knew no-one," she said.
"I'm lucky the Australian team are all so lovely and caring, especially as some of the older athletes know what it's like to be in that position.
"But to have your best friend here - what more can you ask really?"
Connolly is following in the footsteps of all-time Australian track greats such as Cathy Freeman and Sally Pearson, who also made their senior international debuts as teenaged relay runners.
A Commonwealth Games on home soil next year looms large for the Queensland duo, with Day hopeful of setting a personal best and bettering the Gold Coast qualifying standard of 23.10 seconds while racing in London.
"I'm just going to go out there and run as fast as I can," she said.
"I don't know the competition, I don't know my heat, I don't know anything.
"I'm just going to go out there and run it like a final because that's what I feel like I'll have to do.
"I'll just be running with all guns blazing."
