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A decade on from setting the national 1500m record in Monaco, Ryan Gregson will again contest the metric mile at the Diamond League meet in the principality.
Ryan Gregson has travelled more than 17,000km in the age of COVID-19 to contest his first 1500m race in more than 10 months.
The national record holder will be among seven Australians in action at the prestigious Monaco Diamond League meet on Friday evening (early Saturday AEST).
It shapes as the biggest athletics meet in a season that has been severely truncated by coronavirus.
Athletics Australia advised the nation's track stars not to travel to Europe.
But Gregson said for him and others, including his wife Genevieve, Stewart McSweyn and Jessica Hull, it made sense to head north and test themselves against the world's best, with the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics less than a year away.
"Obviously we watch the news, we know there are risks and that's why we're being careful with travel," the 30-year-old Gregson told AAP from the squad's training base in London.
"But once we got through the flight and arrived here, we're based in London and it's more relaxed here than it was in Melbourne.
"People are going to the pubs and restaurants and other than wearing a mask to the grocery store everything is pretty much normal.
"But we will need to take precautions when we're on planes in Europe going to different meets; wearing masks, using hand sanitizer and keeping our distance."
The Australians will undergo COVID tests in London and Monaco before being cleared to compete.
Gregson has fond memories of the famed Monaco meet, having set the Australian 1500m record of three minutes 31.06 seconds at the Stade Louis II back in 2010.
This time around he will be up against a stacked lineup including reigning world champ Timothy Cheruiyot from Kenyan, Poland's Marcin Lewandowski and gun Norwegian brothers Jakob and Filip Ingebritsen.
"It's a different feel for Monaco this year," said Gregson.
"I don't know what the results will be like across the board, although I doubt everyone will be running super-fast times.
"Personally I've never been as aerobically fit as I am right now.
"I'm obviously not race fit, but I still think I'll run pretty well and keep getting better over the next few weeks."
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei is targetting the world record in the 5000m in a field also including McSweyn and fellow Australian Matthew Ramsden, who will be the pacemaker.
Genevieve Gregson and Hull are entered in the women's 5000m, while fellow Australians Peter Bol and Joseph Deng are in the men's 800m.
