Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe are hoping a fast time at the Berlin marathon will secure them a place at next year's London Olympics.
Ethiopian great Gebrselassie is seeking a fifth Berlin victory on Sunday, while Radcliffe is running her first marathon since the birth of her son in 2009.
"Realistically, this will probably be my last Olympics and I really want to win a gold medal," Radcliffe said.
"The best preparation would be for this [marathon] to be the only one."
The 37-year-old world record holder added: "For that reason the [qualification] time needs to be ticked off."
And she admitted: "It's been a long time since I ran a marathon, so I have a bit of fear."
Gebrselassie also says the clock will be his priority on the course where he set his world record in 2008, because he feels under pressure to qualify for the Ethiopian team for 2012.
"The time is most important, not the win, because I have to qualify for the next Olympics," said the 38-year-old double Olympic champion at 10,000m.
"It's a big challenge with the youngsters back home. If I don't run a good time they won't let me run in London.
"This is the best chance to get a good time."
Gebrselassie set his world record time of two hours, three minutes and 59 seconds at the third of his four consecutive Berlin victories between 2006 and 2009.
In Gebrselassie's absence last year the Berlin race was won by Patrick Makau with the 11th fastest time in history, and Makau will again be in the field on Sunday.
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