Is it too much to expect that New Zealand might be on the verge of another male middle-distance running boom?
Certainly, the country's last 1500m Olympic medalist Nick Willis thinks so after fellow New Zealander Sam Tanner, 20, ran 3m 34.72s to take third place in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in New York at the weekend.
That was enough to break Willis' New Zealand indoor record of 3m 35.8s set in 2010 in Birmingham.
It also beat the Olympic qualifying standard of 3m 35s.
Willis' outdoor time of 3m 29.66s still stands.
Tanner, New Zealand's 2021 mile champion with a time of 3m 54.97s, is a sophomore at the University of Washington.
Willis finished seventh in 3m 37.53s.
The time puts Tanner at the head of a growing list of performers in New Zealand including 2021 national mile runner-up Eric Speakman, George Beamish and Oliver Chignell.
There was more good news as the race was won by Australia's Oliver Hoare in 3m 32.35s who broke his national record.
The prospect of trans Tasman rivalry is always helpful, even if it will be contested largely on American soil while Tanner continues his studies.
That rivalry was the cornerstone of New Zealand's advance during its greatest era in the 1950s and 1960s as the likes of Murray Halberg, Bill Baillie and Neville Scott, and later Peter Snell competed regularly with Herb Elliott, Tony Blue, Merv Lincoln, Albie Thomas, Ron Clarke, John Landy et al.
While Tanner gave himself a boost for Olympic Games selection, Hoare, who is based in Colorado where he became one of two runners from the ON club to run the first four-minute mile in the state, faces a struggle to qualify for Australia.
He may have run the world's eighth-fastest indoor 1500m time, but that does not guarantee automatic selection.
Under Australia's qualification rules the easiest way to gain selection is to compete in Athletics Australia's main selection event, the national track and field championships in April.
But in this Covid-19 world, he faces travel restrictions in taking part.
So selection is down to administrative discretion and he is hopeful the realisation of the Covid restrictions will be enough to sway his inclusion in the Games team.
The winner of the championship is an automatic selection, so long as a qualifying time has been run, and two other places are on offer for those who have run qualifying times.
Also challenging for a place will be Stewart McSweyn who broke Ryan Gregson's 1500m outdoor record of 3m 31.06s by 0.55s in 3m 30.51s in the last Diamond League meeting of the 2020 season, in Doha.