Abstract
Hot and humid ambient conditions may play a major role during the endurance events of the 2019 IAAF world championships, the 2020 summer Olympics and many other sports events. Here, various countermeasures with scientific evidence are put in perspective of their practical application. This manuscript is not a comprehensive review, but rather a set of applied recommendations built upon sound scientific reasoning and experience with elite athletes. The primary recommendation for an athlete who will be competing in the heat, will be to train in the heat. This acclimatization phase should last for 2 weeks and be programmed to accommodate the taper and travel requirements. Despite extensive laboratory-based research, hydration strategies within athletics are generally dictated by the race characteristics. The main opportunities for hydration are during the preparation and recovery phases. In competition, depending on thirst, feeling, and energy requirements, water may be ingested or poured. The athletes should also adapt their warm-up routines to the environmental conditions, as it may do more harm than good. Avoiding harm includes limiting unnecessary heat exposure before the event, warming-up with cooling aids such as ice-vest or cold/iced drinks, and avoiding clothing or accessories limiting sweat evaporation. From a medical perspective, exertional heat stroke should be considered immediately when an athlete collapses or struggles during exercise in the heat with central nervous system disorders. Once a rectal temperature >40.5°C is confirmed, cooling (via cold water immersion) should be undertaken as soon as possible (cool first/transport second).
Introduction
The 17th IAAF World Championships will take place in Doha, from the 27th September to the 6th October 2019. While the track and field events will be held in an AC stadium, the road races will be held on the seaside, at night time. A retrospective analysis of 36-years of MERRA-2 meteorological data over the competition period indicates that weather conditions are typically both hot and humid during this time of the year, with average maximum daytime temperatures reaching 38°C, and average daily dewpoint temperatures approaching 22°C. The temperature peaks early afternoon (range 33–42°C) and is the lowest at night (range 23–31°C). The WBGT follows a similar pattern with a mid-day peak (average 33°C, range 27–44°C) and an overnight minimum (average 24°C, range 19–28°C). Such conditions impair endurance performance and increase the risk of exertional heat illness (Racinais et al., ). As such, understanding the mitigating factors surrounding human thermoregulation, knowledge, and practice of effective countermeasure strategies and medical care are imperative to ensure adequate and safe athlete preparation and performance (Alhadad et al., ). This manuscript briefly puts in perspective the main countermeasures to mitigate heat stress considering their scientific evidence as well as their practicability during the athletic championship.
Training in the Heat: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
Heat stress has been shown to dramatically decrease endurance performance, but this decrement can be progressively attenuated with the acclimatization induced by repeated training in the heat (Racinais et al., ). Importantly, heat acclimatization may also reduce the likelihood of suffering from heat illnesses. As such, heat acclimatization should be a priority before any event where the ambient conditions may be hot and/or humid, even if the level of heat stress may be mild or uncertain. Indeed, heat acclimatization does not impair performance in cooler environments and may even improve it under some circumstances (Lorenzo et al., ; Racinais et al., ). Briefly, the most visible adaptations of the body to repeated training in the heat include an increased sweat rate, a decreased heart rate at a given intensity, a better retention of electrolytes, and a decreased body core temperature (Figure 1; Périard et al., ; Tyler et al., ; Daanen et al., ).
Figure 1
Intuitively, it can be reasoned that the most specific adaptations would be conferred by training in the same environment as the upcoming competition. However, where such an undertaking may not be possible, the use of artificial heat exposure such as training in a hot room, sauna bathing, hot bath post thermoneutral training are potentially some useful alternatives (Figure 2). The fundamental requisite for an effective heat acclimation involves substantial and repeated increases in core temperature, skin temperature, and sweating. In addition, the relative success of a heat adaptation program depends on the specificity (active vs. passive) and frequency of the exposure. It is ideal that at least 60–90 min of exercise is undertaken in the heat to confer rapid adaptations (Tyler et al.,
Figure 2

Various methods for heat acclimatization/acclimation. Adapted with permission from www.ephysiol.com. RH, relative humidity; W, watt; bpm, beat per minutes.
The time required to achieve optimal acclimatization may vary but most adaptations have been shown to develop within 7–10 days, with 14 days being preferable (Karlsen et al.,
Hydration for Performance and Recovery
Although, heat dissipation relies on sweat evaporation, a caveat to this may be the progressive dehydration that ensues, if sweat losses are not adequately replaced by fluid consumption (Sawka et al.,
During exercise, and especially competition, drinking to thirst has been shown to be adequate for exercise lasting between 1 and 2 h in cool environments (Kenefick,
Warm-Up or Pre-Cooling Before Competition?
Warming-up before an intense exercise or a competition has numerous physiological and psychological benefits improving performance (Racinais et al.,
Many athletes commonly use pre-cooling techniques (Figure 3; Périard et al.,
Figure 3

Intended use of cooling strategies at the 2015 Beijing IAAF World Athletics Championships (Périard et al.,
The use of cooling vests offers a more practical approach to undertake in the field. These garments are designed such that it covers the entire torso, and facilitates heat removal primarily through conduction. Albeit, the cooling capacity of such garments can be limited due to a contact interface of only 5–10% of the total body surface area (Luomala et al.,
The ingestion of ice slurries or cold fluids is another practical modality which has gained considerable adherence amongst athletes (Figure 3; Périard et al.,
Pre-cooling interventions can be mixed [e.g., cooling vests (torso) plus cold towels (neck and head regions), while drinking ice slurry] as benefits are proportionate to the body surface area cooled and the duration of cooling (Duffield et al.,
Mitigating the Heat Stress During the Competition Itself
Cooling strategies may also be implemented during an event (i.e., mid-cooling) for immediate impact on performance (Stevens et al.,
Athletes should also protect their eyes by wearing UV ray blocking sun-glasses in a dark tint (i.e., grade 3) and their skin by using non-greasy sun-screen (water-based sun screen should be preferred to oil-based sun-screen that may affect sweating). Lightly colored clothing can also minimize the effect of the sun's radiation, but clothing should not impair sweat evaporation.
Managing Exertional Heat Illness
Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is the most severe form of heat illness, typically characterized by a neuropsychiatric impairment coupled with a high core body temperature (>40.5°C). Athletes will likely have no sequela if their internal body temperature is reduced <40°C within 30 min (Stearns et al.,
In order to minimize the number of minutes the EHS patient is hyperthermic, it is crucial that EHS is considered as one of the primary possible diagnosis when an athlete has collapsed or is struggling during intense exercise in the heat. The other potential medical issues need to be quickly considered and excluded, including cardiac conditions, asthma, exertional hyponatremia, head injury, exertional sickling, diabetes, and anaphylaxis; and core body temperature should be assessed immediately to quickly confirm or invalid the EHS diagnosis. When athletes have been exercising intensely in the heat, it is essential that rectal temperature is utilized to determine if the athlete is severely hyperthermic or not (Casa et al.,
As soon as diagnosed, EHS should be immediately treated by CWI. Research has verified that CWI has the fastest cooling rates, hence should be the cooling mode of choice (Casa et al.,
Conclusion
In summary, hot and humid ambient condition may play a major role in numerous athletic events. Fortunately, athletes have a toolbox of countermeasures with various efficacy and feasibility. The most important is to plan ahead by training in the heat for 2 weeks. Hydration should also be considered during the preparation and recovery phases as it is not always feasible to drink during the event. Depending on thirst and perception, the water available during competition may be ingested or doused around the head. Another important consideration is to limit unnecessary increases in core temperature by adapting the warm-up with some cooling strategies such as ice-vest or cold/iced drinks, and avoiding clothing or accessories limiting sweat evaporation. Medical response should focus on rapid cooling by having CWI tubs already set-up to cool first / transport second.
Statements
Author contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
Conflict of interest
SR and MI are part of Aspetar, the medical provider of the upcoming world championship. SR also collaborates with the IAAF on several projects including a leaflet distributed to the athletes containing a part of the information presented here. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
heat acclimatization, hydration, acclimation, pre-cooling, exertional heat illness
Citation
Racinais S, Casa D, Brocherie F and Ihsan M (2019) Translating Science Into Practice: The Perspective of the Doha 2019 IAAF World Championships in the Heat. Front. Sports Act. Living 1:39. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2019.00039
Received
18 July 2019
Accepted
16 September 2019
Published
27 September 2019
Volume
1 - 2019
Edited by
George P. Nassis, City Unity College Athens, Greece
Reviewed by
João Brito, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, Portugal; Chris John Bishop, Middlesex University, United Kingdom
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© 2019 Racinais, Casa, Brocherie and Ihsan.
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*Correspondence: Sebastien Racinais sebastien.racinais@aspetar.com
This article was submitted to Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
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