If you watch the 2023 World Track and Field Championships, you’ll see nonstop displays of speed, endurance, power, and agility. You might also notice athletes doing things that cause you to scratch your head more than drop your jaw. Like pros in most sports, track and field athletes have their quirky competition routines. Here’s the inside scoop on five that will be on display in Budapest. Heads up: Once you spot them, you can’t unsee them.
Start Line Slapping
Just before races of 400 meters or shorter and in some field events, it can look like the athletes are under attack by mosquitoes. Runners and jumpers slap their faces, legs, and arms. Some even hit themselves in the chest. What gives?
“I’ll typically slap my face as we’re walking onto the track or standing in the blocks,” says Trevor Bassitt, the 400-meter hurdles bronze medalist at last year’s world championships. “From time to time, I’ll punch my chest. I like slapping my legs once we get the ‘On your mark’ call. It gives you a little bit of a shock as you’re getting in and really helps me lock in. I feel like it also gives you a little more blood flow to the legs.” Although research on the practice is scant, some believe it produces a small release of adrenaline.
Olympic long jumper Tyra Gittens sometimes slaps herself before an attempt, but she would rather not. “I normally do this when I’m frustrated and I am trying to wake my body and nervous system up,” she says. “If I don’t feel very reactive or if I’m not doing well and I get frustrated, I jump to this. I try not to get to this point because for me it means I am no longer feeling in control of the situation.”
How to Watch the 2023 World Track Championships Published: Aug 18, 2023 7:00 AM EDT, who is the 400-meter hurdles world record-holder as well as one of the great self-slappers in track and field. Earlier this year, Warholm told an interviewer he revised his routine to avoid hitting himself too hard in the heart.
Racing in One Arm Sleeve
After he’s done slapping himself, Bassitt will race wearing a sleeve on his left arm. Does doing so reduce drag as he leans into the curve or otherwise improve performance?
“There’s no direct performance benefit to wearing it,” Bassitt says. “I wear it because I like the way it looks, which in turn gives me more confidence when I put it on.”
Sales & Deals Clayton Murphy did. “I wanted to do something different and fun to just break up the obvious distance runner look,” the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist says. “It is entirely for aesthetics. It gives me zero performance benefit.”
As proof that the sleeves have nothing to do with performance, consider this: In Budapest, Murphy will wear his sleeve on his right arm because basketball players often wear a sleeve on their shooting arm, which for Murphy would be his right arm. But Bassitt, who is also right-handed, wears his sleeve on his left arm. His reasoning? “I used to play basketball in high school and, to quote NBA player Nick Young, ‘The right arm is strictly for getting buckets.’”
Encouraging the Crowd to Clap Rhythmically
Before an attempt, many long jumpers and triple jumpers turn to the crowd and start clapping overhead. Once the crowd picks up the clapping, the jumpers face the pit and take off down the runway. How does this help?
“I do it when I want some more energy and to get the crowd involved,” says Donald Scott, who is part of the U.S. triple jump squad in Budapest. “When I decide to not clap is when I just want to be in my own sense of mind without worrying about the crowd engagement.”
Gittens also uses the practice intermittently. “I find when I am struggling with my rhythm, if I am overstimulated, starting a clap will only lead me to make more mistakes and not work through the issue correctly,” she says. “I rely on rhythm when going down the runway, so if I am not confident in my approach at the time, then starting a clap can sometimes confuse me even more.”
Anyone who has been to a concert where the crowd is encouraged to clap along knows that many people are bad at keeping rhythm. Are jumpers thrown off by out-of-sync clapping?
“That is exactly why I don’t start a clap unless my approach is bulletproof, so no matter what the crowd does, I will remain consistent,” Gittens says.
Scott says about arrhythmic clapping, “When it happens, you just have to go with what you’re getting or stop the clap and restart it. Most of the times when you stop and reset it, it will still be off at times. So it helps, but you still have to be focused on what you have to do versus worrying about clapping.”
Last-Minute Motions Before a Jump
Many field event athletes seem to be watching a movie or talking to themselves before an attempt. It’s reasonable to think they’re prehearsing before jumping or throwing. Is that the case?
“What I do is stand there, look past the pit and at the board,” Scott says. “Then I see the jump, feel the jump, and trust the jump. Go!”
Gittens, in contrast, does her mental run-through before she gets to the runway. “This is a way to visualize the perfect approach and jump,” she says. “It also gives you time to go over your coach’s feedback and visualize yourself doing the motions. Then when I get on the runway, all I say to myself is one cue—‘run through the board’—and then I go.”
What you will see Gittens do on the runway is wiggle her fingers just before taking off. “I do this to keep myself in the moment,” she says. “I focus on a body part and not the feeling of anxiety or excitement.”
Rinse and Spit
Finally, there are the marathoners. Specifically, the ones who grab their bottles at the 40K mark even though they’ll finish in six to ten minutes. Why bother when a few sips of sport drink aren’t going to supply energy in time and could disrupt your rhythm at a crucial point in the race?
The main reason is one that you can implement late in your next marathon: Research has shown that rinsing with a carbohydrate drink and then spitting out the fluid can give a slight performance boost. It’s believed that sensors in your mouth signal to your brain that carbs are on their way, resulting in a given pace feeling easier. This process is similar to when you consume carbs after a draining run and immediately feel revived, even though there hasn’t been time for the carbs to reach your muscles.
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Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Running Is My Therapy, Advanced Marathoning, and Running Is My Therapy. Published: Aug 18, 2023 7:00 AM EDT Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
