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On June 10, at approximately 3 p.m., just before heading to the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, interdisciplinary studies senior Ja'Kobe Tharp ate two cheeseburgers, a large fry and 10 Chicken McNuggets.

Three hours later, he set a world record in the 110-meter hurdles.

To a nutritionist, consuming 1,246 calories of McDonald's (not including the sweet and sour sauce) before an event like, say, the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships might sound strange, ill-advised... antithetical to athletic performance, even.

But to Tharp, it makes all the sense in the world. That's just how he rolls, he says — how he runs, at least since winning the Tennessee state hurdles championship as a high school junior after downing the same meal.

Three hours before the Auburn track and fielder hits the finish line, he hits the Golden Arches. Or at least his coach does. 

“I have purchased that meal on three different continents,” Tigers’ track and field head coach Ken Harndon told reporters earlier this month. “Well, actually, four different continents.”

"Every time," Tharp says. "Every time I run, no matter where it is. Coach Ken told me that I'm going to change my diet soon. But I mean, hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

(Judging by the July cover of Track and Field News, it ain't.)

Auburn hurdler Ja'Kobe Tharp crouches beside the NCAA Championships results board after setting the collegiate record in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 12.75 seconds at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Ja'Kobe Tharp celebrates his collegiate record of 12.75 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.

Brooks Mobley, an assistant clinical professor in the School of Kinesiology researching the cellular mechanisms behind skeletal muscle adaptations to exercise, kind of agrees with him — at least to an extent. 

"I have this conversation with students in class,” says Mobley, who teaches several exercise science courses within the school’s Exercise, Performance and Health Optimization curriculum. “I'm like, 'Do you know that person that can eat a large pizza from Papa Johns or Mellow Mushroom but still go out and perform? They can play, like, four rounds of basketball or work out in the gym, and if they do gain weight, it's muscle?'" 

Dietary "diamonds among stones," Mobley calls them. 

"It's a real thing," he says. 

Indeed. An aversion to Chinese cuisine famously led track and field legend Usain Bolt to eat nothing but McDonald's Chicken McNuggets during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, consuming more than 1,000 over 10 days. 

Tharp nods. His culinary custom when competing outside the United States? Basically, the same. 

"When I was in Tokyo (for the 2025 World Athletics Championships), I lived off McDonald's," Tharp says. 

But does his specific race day routine actually offer any real — albeit counterintuitive — athletic advantage?

Auburn hurdler Ja'Kobe Tharp holds a McDonald's takeout bag containing his pre-race meal while standing near the track before competition.

He's Lovin' It: Ja'Kobe Tharp poses with the McDonald's meal that has become his pre-race tradition on July 14 in Budapest, Hungary. Three hours later, he came in first in the 110-meter hurdles at the István Gyulai Memorial.

Well... maybe, Mobley says. There's the timing of it, for one. A meal like that three hours before a race would definitely keep distractions from hunger at bay. Not that he'd advise it or anything, especially not for long-distance runners; Mobley says the level of fat in Tharp's pre-hurdle habit has a way of redirecting blood and energy to your gut rather than the muscles you're counting on. 

"If a marathon runner were to eat this meal, they're probably going to be having some gastrointestinal distress," Mobley says. "But a race that's just 13 seconds" — or, in Tharp's case, 12.75 seconds — "is really just activating the ATP phosphocreatine system, with a little bit of anaerobic glycolysis" — i.e. drawing on the body's immediate energy stores. 

What Mobley points to as a definite positive is less what Tharp eats, than why he eats it. Because whatever McEdge Tharp may enjoy over the competition? It may stem more from superstition than nutrition.

"It's possible there's some slight carb-loading going on," he says, "but I think the psychological component may be the most important thing happening."

It's a phenomenon Mobley has seen firsthand: Whether it's the music they listen to or how they put on their socks, habits before competition are huge.

"Every athlete has their own thing like that. 'Hey, I'm eating this meal, this is what I do.' I think consistency along those lines can help you avoid decision fatigue and really reduce pre-race anxiety, which is good" — good enough in Tharp's case to counterbalance whatever negative nutritional impact his tasty training tradition might bring.

Oh, and that 2,590 mg of sodium might be good, too.

"Yeah, the sodium stuff is real. Like having that much sodium, more than 100% of the recommended daily value? Especially in the late spring or summer when it's really hot, I think that does help support what we call plasma volume and fluid balance."

And fluid balance is one best practice Tharp salutes.

What's he wash it all down with? A Sprite? A Coke? A milkshake?

"Just water," he says. "Got to stay hydrated."