It's being billed as 'the duel in the pool that the world wants to see' – except nobody will be there to watch.
When US superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky defends her Olympic crown against Australia's Ariarne Titmus in three enthralling races next week, the only cheering echoing around a near-empty Tokyo Aquatics Centre will be pre-recorded, but that won't lessen the intensity one bit.
For nine years, since bursting on the world scene aged 15 at the 2012 London Olympics where she won the 800m freestyle, Ledecky has ruled the pool.
A year after London, she dominated the world championships in Barcelona, taking gold in the 400m, 800m and 1500m.
In 2015 at the world championships in Kazan, Russia, she went one better, defending her three titles and adding the 200m freestyle for good measure.
Young gun Aussie swimmer Ariarne Titmus is chasing gold medal glory against US superstar Katie Ledecky
Katie Ledecky already has five gold medals to her name, including the 800m freestyle from the London Olympics aged just 15
Brisbane based Ariarne Titmus has beaten her rival Katie Ledecky before - in the 400m freestyle final at the 2019 world titles in South Korea
Then came the Rio Olympics, where she totally demoralised her rivals in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle.
Tasmanian-born, Brisbane-based Titmus remembers watching on TV as a 15-year-old when Ledecky snared her three-gold medal haul in Rio, setting world records in the 400m and 800m.
It was her ruthless performance in the 800m, which she won by nearly 12 seconds, that earned her the title 'The Dominator' and had up-and-comer Titmus shaking her head in awe.
'No-one is ever going to get near this chick,' Titmus recalls thinking.
She was wrong. Someone has got near her – beaten her in fact – and that someone is Titmus.
At the 2019 world championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Titmus handed Ledecky her first defeat in 28 races at major events when she swam over the top of her 20 metres out from the wall to win the 400m freestyle final by 1.21 seconds.
After the race Ledecky complained of tired legs, and later spent several hours in a local emergency room being treated for what was described as 'a stomach virus'.
All of which suited Titmus and her coach Dean Boxall just fine.
They are happy to downplay the significance of the shock win two years ago as they prepare for the three-race showdown in Japan, which starts with the 400m freestyle on Monday afternoon (AEST), followed by the 200m on Wednesday and 800m on Saturday.
What they can't downplay is the electric performance of Titmus at the Australian Olympic trials last month in Adelaide when, after a disrupted preparation because of Covid protocols, she swam the second fastest 400m freestyle ever recorded.
Her slick time of 3:56.90 was just 0.44 secs behind Ledecky's world record.
At the US trials, held a week later, Ledecky won her event in 4:01.27, a whopping five seconds behind the mark set by her younger Australian rival, whose nickname 'Arnie' has, inevitably, seen her dubbed 'The Terminator' by the media.
It sets up an enticing prospect: the young hunter, 20, stalking a prey that at just 24 years-of-age, is far from past her prime. In fact, her many supporters would say she is yet to reach it.
But this is no ordinary Olympic swim meet, if such a thing could be said to exist.
Due to Covid, the preparation has been different, to say the least. The regular four-year training cycle to the biggest event on the sporting calendar has been extended to five.
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