diff --git a/fairseq/training.py b/fairseq/training.py
index 5142e7a6..54bc6496 100755
--- a/fairseq/training.py
+++ b/fairseq/training.py
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ def __init__(
         self.package_name = package_name
         self.check_consistency()
 
+    @property
+    def data(self):
+        """
+        Get the underlying data of the FairseqHydraConfig
+        """
+        return self.config_dict
+
     def write(self, path: str):
         config_dict = self.config_dict.copy()
         config_dict = util.update_nested_dict(config_dict, self.post_config_dict)
@@ -170,6 +177,9 @@ def __init__(
         kwargs = locals()
         del kwargs["self"]
 
+        # save start checkpoint and rename to checkpoint_latest
+        self.start_checkpoint = fairseq_hydra_config.data.get("checkpoint", {}).pop("restore_file")
+
         self.command_line_args = command_line_args or []
         stored_epochs = list(range(save_interval, max_epoch, save_interval)) + [max_epoch]
 
@@ -231,9 +241,28 @@ def create_fairseq_hydra_config(cls, fairseq_hydra_config, max_epoch, max_update
         }
         res.update(FairseqHydraConfig(config_dict, post_config_dict))
         return res
+    
+    def _fairseq_prepare_checkpoint(self, start_checkpoint):
+        # rename the start checkpoint to checkpoint_last.pt if it is not None and checkpoint_last.pt does not exist
+        if start_checkpoint is None:
+            print("No start checkpoint provided")
+            return
+        if not os.path.exists(start_checkpoint):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Start checkpoint {start_checkpoint} does not exist")
+        if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.out_checkpoint_dir.get_path(), "checkpoint_last.pt")):
+            print(f"Linking {start_checkpoint} to {self.out_checkpoint_dir.get_path()}")
+            os.symlink(
+                start_checkpoint,
+                os.path.join(self.out_checkpoint_dir.get_path(), "checkpoint_last.pt")
+            )
+            os.symlink(
+                start_checkpoint,
+                os.path.join(self.out_checkpoint_dir.get_path(), os.path.basename(start_checkpoint))
+            )
 
     def create_files(self):
         self.fairseq_hydra_config.write(self.out_fairseq_hydra_yaml.get_path())
+        self._fairseq_prepare_checkpoint(self.start_checkpoint)
         util.create_executable("fairseq.sh", self._get_run_cmd())
 
     def run(self):