How athletes schedule their warmups for championships: American Olympic legend gives detailed insights

For every athlete that shows up on their event day during a major championship, a lot has been put in place behind the scenes, and insights into this has been shared by American Olympic hurdling legend Dawn Harper-Nelson.

The 41-year-old retired track athlete specialized in the 100m Hurdles, and her medal collection is highlighted by being a gold medallist at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, silver medallist at London 2012 Olympic Games and at London 2017 World Championships.

Before the start of the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, Harper-Nelson explained in a detailed video on her Instagram page how she and most athletes likely schedule their warmups for championships, highlighting everything from call rooms to bathroom breaks, timing every minute encapsulated in four hours period before race time.

"I’m telling you the timing of everything is to the minute. I rushed through it but you all get the point. It can seem like why does it take all that but look what works for one may not work for the others. If you sat back and watched what athletes do to prepare, it’s almost as entertaining as the competition.

"I am a very detailed person and when I say I use to have everything written out, laid out and thought out. Lol It gave me comfort to know all the planning was done and now all I had to do was execute," she wrote as caption to the video.

Harper-Nelson is one of the most respected hurdlers in history and had a fierce rivalry with Australian track queen Sally Pearson, with both exchanging dominance in the event for many years.