DOHA, Qatar -- Jeremy Wariner is running the 200 meters. Allyson Felix is racing in the 400.
The two American track stars are breaking from their usual events Friday at the Doha Super Grand Prix.
Wariner is an Olympic and multiple world champion in the 400, yet wants to sharpen his finishing speed ahead of the Beijing Games. He is looking to make a point by beating his personal best in the 200 of 20.19 seconds.
Felix, meanwhile, is eager to get an individual 400 under her belt early in the season. She is a big favorite to add Olympic titles to her 200-400 double at the world championships.
Felix also has the speed to challenge in the 100. If she wants to go for four golds in Beijing, she also would have to run in the 1,600-meter relay. Felix likes the Doha meet so much that she will be defending two titles, adding a 100 race to the 400.
Things are more straightforward for Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, the world's best high jumper. She will stick to her specialty in the evening heat at the Qatar Sports Club near the Persian Gulf.
It is the first major meet of the pre-Olympic season. Asafa Powell, the world record holder in the 100, was supposed to run -- but is out with a chest injury.
The athletes will be facing high temperatures in Beijing, too, so there's no use complaining about it.
"Back home in Texas, I train in the heat, so I am used to it. We have a lot of humidity so it feels hotter than it is," Wariner said.
With fewer than 100 days to go before the Aug. 8-24 Games, Wariner needs to add acceleration to his stamina.
"The more 200s I run, and the faster I can get those, the better my quarter (400) will be," he said. "The best for me to do is to get more speed to go with the strength I already have."
On Friday, Wariner will be tested by his toughest 400 rival, LaShawn Merritt, who is taking a similar approach to the season with his 200.
Felix said the few races she already has run this season mean little. In the Penn Relays last month, she was part of victorious 400- and 1,600-meter relays.
"I'm just looking forward to kind of opening things up" on Friday, not really knowing what to expect from her first individual races of the season. Her first target is the U.S. Olympic trials from June 27-July 6 in Eugene, Ore., where she will compete in the 100 and 200.
"I have a lot of work to do before the trials. I am not sure how it is going to play out on Friday night," she said.
Vlasic is off to a winning start this season, taking the world indoor championship with her 22nd straight victory, and is injury free.
"Now I have really nothing, not even a cold," she said. "I was so happy because I was able to do 100 percent of the training I needed to do."