2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship

The 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from September 11–13, 2026. Organized by World Athletics, it is an inaugural biennial invitational that will feature top athletes in selected disciplines (including defending Olympic and world champions) competing for shares of a US$10 million purse.^[1]

Dates11–13 September 2026

Host cityBudapest, Hungary

VenueNational Athletics Centre (Budapest)

LevelSenior

Quick facts Dates, Host city ...

2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship

Dates	11–13 September 2026
Host city	Budapest, Hungary
Venue	National Athletics Centre (Budapest)
Level	Senior
Type	Outdoor
Events	28

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Qualification

The Ultimate Championship is a limited-field invitational, with individual track events limited to 16 entrants, and field events limited to eight entrants. Direct qualification slots are offered to:^[2]^[3]

The gold medalist from the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The gold medalist from the 2025 World Athletics Championships
The winner of the event at the 2026 Diamond League final.

The remainder of the field in each individual event will be determined by the World Athletics Rankings for the period from 2 September 2025 to 1 September 2026. There is no limit on how many athletes from a single country can be in the field for a single event.^[4]^[5]^[6]

For relay events, the 2026 World Athletics Relays served as the main qualifier, with the top six teams in its 4 x 400 metres and mixed 4 x 100 metres events qualifying for the Ultimate Championship. Two more teams will qualify based on their performance during the competition period between 22 August 2025 to 1 September 2026. Only one team can qualify per-country in relays.^[4]^[5]^[6]

The following athletes have automatically qualified for the Ultimate Championship based on winning a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics or 2025 world championships, or winning the Diamond League finals:

Men's

More information Event, 2024 Olympic Champion ...

Event	2024 Olympic Champion	2025 World Champion	2026 Diamond League final 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
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
Pole vault	Armand Duplantis Sweden
High jump	Hamish Kerr New Zealand
Long jump	Miltiadis Tentoglou Greece	Mattia Furlani Italy
Hammer	Ethan Katzberg Canada		N/a
Javelin	Arshad Nadeem Pakistan	Keshorn Walcott Trinidad and Tobago

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Women's

More information Event, 2024 Olympic Champion ...

Event	2024 Olympic Champion	2025 World Champion
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
5000m	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
Triple jump	Thea LaFond Dominica	Leyanis Pérez Cuba
Javelin	Haruka Kitaguchi Japan	Juleisy Angulo Ecuador

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Schedule

S	Semi-finals	F	Final

More information Date →, 11 Sep ...

Men
Date →	11 Sep		12 Sep		13 Sep
Event ↓	11 Sep		12 Sep		13 Sep
100 m			S	F
200 m					S	F
400 m			S		F
800 m			S		F
1500 m					F
5000 m	F
110 m hurdles	S	F
400 m hurdles	S		F
High jump					F
Pole vault	F
Long jump			F
Hammer throw	F
Javelin throw					F

Women
Date →	11 Sep		12 Sep		13 Sep
Event ↓	11 Sep		12 Sep		13 Sep
100 m			S	F
200 m					S	F
400 m			S		F
800 m	S		F
1500 m			F
5000 m					F
100 m hurdles	S	F
400 m hurdles	S		F
High jump	F
Pole vault			F
Long jump	F
Triple jump					F
Javelin throw			F

Mixed
Date →	11 Sep	12 Sep	13 Sep
Event ↓	11 Sep	12 Sep	13 Sep
4 × 100 m relay	F
4 × 400 m relay	F

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More information DAY ONE—FRIDAY, September 11th 7 PM, Track Events ...

Detailed event schedule
DAY ONE—FRIDAY, September 11th 7 PM
Track Events
Event	Division Round	Men / Women / Mixed
4 × 100 m relay	FINAL	mixed
400 m hurdles	SEMIFINAL	men
400 m hurdles	SEMIFINAL	women
110 m hurdles	SEMIFINAL	men
5000 m	FINAL	men
800 m	SEMIFINAL	women
100 m hurdles	FINAL	women
110 m hurdles	FINAL	men
4 × 400 m relay	FINAL	mixed
Field Events
Hammer throw	FINAL	men
High Jump	FINAL	women
Pole Vault	FINAL	men
Long Jump	FINAL	women
DAY TWO—SATURDAY, September 12th 6 PM
Track Events
400 m hurdles	FINAL	women
400 m hurdles	FINAL	men
800 m	SEMIFINAL	men
400 m	SEMIFINAL	men
100 m	SEMIFINAL	women
100 m	SEMIFINAL	men
1500 m	FINAL	women
400 m	SEMIFINAL	women
800 m	FINAL	women
100 m	FINAL	women
100 m	FINAL	men
Field Events
Javelin throw	FINAL	women
Pole Vault	FINAL	women
Long Jump	FINAL	men
DAY THREE—SUNDAY, September 13th 6 PM
Track Events
400 m	FINAL	women
200 m	SEMIFINAL	men
800 m	FINAL	women
200 m	SEMIFINAL	women
5000 m	FINAL	women
400 m	FINAL	men
1500 m	FINAL	men
200 m	FINAL	men
200 m	FINAL	women
Field Events
Javelin throw	FINAL	men
High Jump	FINAL	men
Triple Jump	FINAL	women

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^[7]

Participating nations

More information Participating National Olympic Committees ...

Participating National Olympic Committees
Canada Ethiopia Norway Sweden Dominican Republic Japan Ukraine Jamaica Pakistan South Africa United States (13) Uganda Botswana Kenya