The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships begin in Budapest across three action-packed days and the men’s 1500m battle, including rivals Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr, is expected to be among the highlights alongside Keely Hodgkinson’s latest battle with Audrey Werro in the women’s 800m.
The new competition, which will bring the top level 2026 track season to a close, should see most of the sport’s biggest names face off across three days of action in the Hungarian capital and there is significant prize money up for grabs.
Here is everything you need to know about the competition.
What is the World Athletics Ultimate Championships?
It is a new concept intended to fill the void in non-Olympic or World Championship years, designed to pit the biggest names against each other for what World Athletics have said is the biggest prize pot in track and field.
What is the format?
The idea is to make it fast-paced and action-packed to keep viewers engaged.
Two semi-finals in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 100m hurdles/110m hurdles and 400m hurdles will feature eight athletes and the top four in each will make it through to the final. The 1500m, 5000m and relays will be straight finals.
All field events will be straight finals. World Athletics say that the horizontal jumps and throws will feature four rounds, with each of the eight athletes guaranteed two attempts.
When does the competition take place?
The event will be spread across three days at Budapest’s National Athletics Centre and will run from Friday 11 September Sunday 13 with three-hour sessions each evening.
World Athletics Ultimate Championships schedule
(all times BST)
Friday 11 September: 18:00 – 21:00
18:08: 4×100 relay (mixed) – final
18:13: High jump (women) – final
18:19: 400m (men) – semi-final
18:23: Hammer throw (men) – final
18:38: 400m (women) – semi-final
19:04: 100m hurdles (women) – semi-final
19:08: Pole vault (men) – final
19:21: 110m hurdles (men) – semi-final
19:36: 5,000m (men) – final
19:53: Long jump (women) – final
19:57: 800m (women) – semi-final
20:20: 100m hurdles (women) – final
20:49: 110m hurdles (men) – final
Saturday 11 September: 17:00 – 20:00
17:08: 400m (women) – final
17:13: Javelin (women) – final
17:18: 400m (men) – final
17:26: 800m (men) – semi-final
17:43: Pole vault (women) – final
17:46: 400m hurdles (women) – semi-final
18:04: 100m (women) – semi-final
18:21: 100m (men) – semi-final
18:36: 1,500m (women) – final
18:44: Long jump (men) – final
18:57: 400m hurdle (men) – semi-final
19:18: 800m (women) – final
19:38: 100m (women) – final
19:49: 100m (men) – final
Sunday 11 September: 17:00 – 20:00
17:08: 400m hurdles (women) – final
17:13: Javelin (men) – final
17:18: 200m (men) – semi-final
17:36: 400m hurdles (men) – final
17:44: 200m (women) – semi-final
18:04: High jump (men) – final
18:10: 5,000m (women) – final
18:34: Triple Jump (women) – final
18:41: 800m (men) – final
18:53: 4x400m relay (mixed) – final
19:12: 1,500m (men) – final
19:38: 200m (men) – final
19:49: 200m (women) – final
How can I watch?
For fans in the UK, all three days will be shown live by the BBC. The first two day’s action will be live on BBC Two and Sunday night’s session shown live on BBC One. All three days’ action will also be available to stream on iPlayer.
What is the prize money?
World Athletics are promising a record prize pot of $10m (£7.3m) for the entire championships with top prizes of $150,000 (£110,000) for the winners of the individual events.
|
Rank |
Individual |
Relays |
|---|---|---|
|
1st |
$150,000 |
$80,000 |
|
2nd |
$75,000 |
$40,000 |
|
3rd |
$40,000 |
$24,000 |
|
4th |
$25,000 |
$20,000 |
|
5th |
$16,000 |
$16,000 |
|
6th |
$14,000 |
$14,000 |
|
7th |
$12,000 |
$10,000 |
|
8th |
$10,000 |
$8,000 |
|
9th |
$9,000 |
– |
|
10th |
$8,000 |
– |
|
11th |
$7,000 |
– |
|
12th |
$6,000 |
– |
|
13th |
$5,000 |
|
|
14th |
$4,000 |
– |
|
15th |
$3,000 |
– |
|
16th |
$2,000 |
– |
