World Athletics Ultimate Championship opens with record $10m prize pot

World Athletics launches its inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest this weekend, assembling an elite, invite-only field that includes 26 Olympic gold medallists from Paris, 26 world champions from Tokyo and the season's top performers. The three-day meeting — scheduled for September 11-13 — is designed to sit between World Championships on the sport's calendar and will run every two years.

Entry to the competition is restricted to Olympic and World Championship gold medallists, Diamond League winners and top-ranked athletes in 2026 under the World Rankings qualification system. Usain Bolt is an ambassador for the event and praised the idea of a new format that pits the season’s best directly against one another. World Athletics says the Ultimate Champion will earn not only the largest cash awards in track and field but also significant global recognition.

The event offers unprecedented financial incentives: winners in individual disciplines will take home $150,000, more than double the first-place award at last year’s World Championships, with rewards extending down to $2,000 for 16th place. Relay teams will split $80,000 for first, with $40,000 and $24,000 for second and third respectively. Organisers have also reimagined the presentation of honours — there will be no medals; instead athletes receive customised trophies made from individual tokens.

Competition rules have been adjusted to prioritise head-to-head, TV-friendly formats. All events will be staged as direct semifinals or finals rather than traditional heats; 200m runners will choose semifinal heats and lanes by seed order; a jump-off will decide tied vertical jumps; and throwing events will use a curtailed attempt structure under an 8:8:6:4 model. The mixed 4x100m relay will appear on the programme, following its World Relays debut earlier in the year. The format and event selection have drawn criticism from some athletes: several technical and distance disciplines — including shot put, triple jump, women’s hammer throw, discus, the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m — were excluded, prompting public complaints from athletes such as Matthew Denny and Pedro Pichardo.

Organisers and fans will also be watching for further record-challenging performances. Standouts named among the 'world record watch' include Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis in the pole vault, Emanuel Wanyonyi and Audrey Werro in the 800m (Werro ran 1:53.70 in Zurich), Alison dos Santos in the men's 400m hurdles, and Masai Russell in the women's 100m hurdles, who posted a 12.09 in Zurich and extended a season-long winning streak.