World Athletics Ultimate Championship

The Ultimate Championship, aka World Athletics Ultimate Championship, is an upcoming international biennial track and field sporting event to be held by World Athletics. ^[1] The first edition will be held from 11 to 13 September from 2026. ^[2]

The inaugural edition of the three evening event will have a prize fund of US$ 10 million, with winners receiving US$ 150,000, by far the largest prize money in the sport, and will be held in Budapest, Hungary. ^{[1] [2]}

World pole vault record-holder Mondo Duplantis was announced as the inaugural Ultimate Star. Duplantis mentioned he was set to showcase the sport like never before and felt excited to be a part of the championship. ^[3]

Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt, eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay has been announced as the ‘Ultimate Legend’, as to collaborate with World Athletics in the promotion of the new global season-ending championship in Budapest. ^[4]

Format

The Ultimate Championship was devised by World Athletics to ensure that the sport had a global championships for elite athletes towards the end of every track year. Unlike the primary World Athletics Championships or Olympic Games, but similar to the Diamond League final, the event consists only of direct semi finals and finals. Events will feature 8 athletes for field events, 16 athletes for individual track events and 8 teams for relays, with invitations decided by the world rankings, augmented by World and Olympic champions. ^{[1] [2]}

On 22 November 2024, the list of events was announced by World Athletics. It included a new mixed 4 × 100 metres relay, not before contested at a global championship level. ^[5]

However, the proposed mixed 4 × 100 metres relay was replaced by male 4 × 100 metres relay as listed by the provisional schedule in the official competition website. ^[6]

Men's disciplines Track events Field events 100 metres Pole vault 200 metres High jump 400 metres Long jump 800 metres Hammer throw 1500 metres Javelin throw 5000 metres 110 metres hurdles 400 metres hurdles 4 × 100 metres relay

Women's disciplines Track events Field events 100 metres Pole vault 200 metres High jump 400 metres Long jump 800 metres Triple jump 1500 metres Javelin throw 5000 metres 100 metres hurdles 400 metres hurdles

Mixed-sex disciplines Track events 4 × 400 metres relay

Championships

Edition	Year	City	Country	Date	Venue	No. of Events	No. of Countries	No. of Athletes	Top of the medal table
1	2026	Budapest	Hungary	11-13 September	National Athletics Centre	tbd	future event

Automatic qualifiers

The following are eligible for automatic qualification to the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

Men

Event	2024 Olympic Champion	2025 World Champion	2026 Diamond League Winner
100m	Noah Lyles   United States	Oblique Seville   Jamaica
200m	Letsile Tebogo   Botswana	Noah Lyles   United States
400m	Quincy Hall   United States	Collen Kebinatshipi   Botswana
800m	Emmanuel Wanyonyi   Kenya	Emmanuel Wanyonyi   Kenya
1500m	Cole Hocker   United States	Isaac Nader   Portugal
5000m	Jakob Ingebrigtsen   Norway	Cole Hocker   United States
110m hurdles	Grant Holloway   United States	Cordell Tinch   United States
400m hurdles	Rai Benjamin   United States	Rai Benjamin   United States
Pole vault	Armand Duplantis   Sweden	Armand Duplantis   Sweden
High jump	Hamish Kerr   New Zealand	Hamish Kerr   New Zealand
Long jump	Miltiadis Tentoglou   Greece	Mattia Furlani   Italy
Hammer	Ethan Katzberg   Canada	Ethan Katzberg   Canada
Javelin	Arshad Nadeem   Pakistan	Keshorn Walcott   Trinidad and Tobago

Women

Event	2024 Olympic Champion	2025 World Champion	2026 Diamond League Winner
100m	Julien Alfred   Saint Lucia	Melissa Jefferson-Wooden   United States
200m	Gabby Thomas   United States	Melissa Jefferson-Wooden   United States
400m	Marileidy Paulino   Dominican Republic	Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone   United States
800m	Keely Hodgkinson   Great Britain	Lilian Odira   Kenya
1500m	Faith Kipyegon   Kenya	Faith Kipyegon   Kenya
5000m	Beatrice Chebet   Kenya	Beatrice Chebet   Kenya
100m hurdles	Masai Russell   United States	Ditaji Kambundji   Switzerland
400m hurdles	Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone   United States	Femke Bol   Netherlands
Pole vault	Nina Kennedy   Australia	Katie Moon   United States
High jump	Yaroslava Mahuchikh   Ukraine	Nicola Olyslagers   Australia
Long jump	Tara Davis-Woodhall   United States	Tara Davis-Woodhall   United States
Triple jump	Thea LaFond   Dominica	Leyanis Pérez   Cuba
Javelin	Haruka Kitaguchi   Japan	Juleisy Angulo   Ecuador

References

1. "World Athletics Ultimate Championship: a new global championship for the sport | News | TBC 26 | World Athletics Ultimate Championships". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
2. "World Athletics Ultimate Championship: New event with record prize fund to launch in 2026". BBC Sport. 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
3. "Duplantis unveiled as inaugural Ultimate Star". World Athletics. 13 August 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
4. "Bolt revealed as Ultimate Legend". World Athletics. 8 September 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
5. "Host broadcaster Tata Communications and HBS to showcase Ultimate Championship as full list of disciplines announced". World Athletics. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
6. "THE SCHEDULE". World Athletics. Retrieved 19 September 2025.

External links

• World Athletics Ultimate Championship