How much did the best athletes earn at the new championship in Budapest?
The first Ultimate Championship of World Athletics took place from 11 to 13 September in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The host was the National Athletics Centre, where the world championships in athletics also took place in 2023. Over three evenings the athletes competed in 28 events, from the sprint to the javelin.
In 2026 there are neither Olympic Games nor a world championship in athletics. So the federation created a new competition for the end of the season, with the best athletes in the world. The plan is for this championship to take place every two years.
Unlike other championships, participation was only by invitation. Those invited were the Olympic champions from Paris, the world champions from Tokyo and the winners of the Diamond League this year. The other places went to the athletes with the highest placings in the world rankings. At most 16 athletes ran in the races, and in the field events, such as jumps and throws, only eight.
However, the biggest novelty of the championship was the money. The total prize fund amounted to 10 million dollars, which is a record for athletics. Each winner received 150,000 dollars, and all the other participants also got money, even the last-placed. The federation's president Sebastian Coe said that the prizes were a big change for a sport that often has little money. The winners did not get medals, but special trophies.
The rules of the competition were also different from the usual ones. In the sprint races there were no heats, but only semi-finals and finals. In the throws the athletes had only four attempts instead of the usual six. Some events, such as the shot put and the discus, were not on the programme at all.
The Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, the world record holder, won with 6.20 metres and received 150,000 dollars. The American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won the races over 100 and 200 metres. Over 100 metres she clocked 10.62 seconds, one of the fastest times in history, and over 200 metres she clocked 21.47 seconds. The Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the race over 5,000 metres, ahead of the American Cole Hocker, the reigning world champion. In the men's race over 200 metres the American Kenny Bednarek won, and overall the athletes from the USA had the most wins.