Duplantis, Ingebrigtsen shine at World Athletics Ultimate Championship

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship opened in Budapest on Friday, billed as a season-ending meeting that assembled a large contingent of top athletes including dozens of recent Olympic, world and Diamond League champions. The competition offered a total prize pool of $10 million across 28 disciplines and produced strong performances across the first eight finals.

World and Olympic pole vault champion Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis produced a flawless series to win the men's pole vault, clearing 6.20 metres to finish ahead of Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis. Duplantis described the contest as enjoyable despite the cool conditions and collected $150,000 for the victory.

Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen continued his return from Achilles surgery with a decisive finish in the men's 5,000 metres, winning in 12:59.24 — only the second sub-13-minute race of his career — and denying world champion Cole Hocker, who ran 13:00.05. Ingebrigtsen, who also plans to run the 1,500 metres at the meet, said recent racing had helped him regain momentum after injury concerns.

Two current world record holders also prevailed in short hurdles: Masai Russell closed strongly to take the 100m hurdles in 12.22 (with Nigeria's Tobi Amusan second in 12.34), while Ja’Kobe Tharp edged Cordell Tinch by one-hundredth of a second to win the 110m hurdles in 12.94. The United States claimed the first title of the night in the 4x100m mixed relay, the quartet of Ronnie Baker, Anavia Battle, Courtney Lindsey and Kayla White posting 39.64 to beat Jamaica (39.72) and Great Britain (40.26).

Field events supplied surprise and drama: Germany's Merlin Hummel won the men's hammer with a best of 81.46m, ahead of Hungary's Bence Halasz (80.30), while Canada’s Ethan Katzberg was eliminated after two no-marks. In the women's high jump, Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 1.99m to take the title over Australia's Nicola Olyslagers (1.95m). Italy's Larissa Iapichino topped the women's long jump with 6.90m as the first night wrapped up.