World Athletics Ultimate Championship

In June 2024, World Athletics announced that it would hold a new biennial event known as the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, with the inaugural edition to be held in Budapest, Hungary in September 2026 following the Diamond League final; the event is intended to serve as a season-closing meet featuring limited fields of top athletes, and will take place in even-numbered years when the World Athletics Championships are not being held. It is being designed to appeal to younger demographics and television audiences, with a focus on fast-paced sessions lasting less than three hours each, and events determined to be popular among viewers. The inaugural Ultimate Championship will have a total purse of US$10 million, with gold medalists to be awarded US$150,000 each.^[1][2]

President Sebastian Coe stated that the Ultimate Championship was part of an effort by World Athletics to "remain interesting" and "create new formats that keep our sport at the top of people's consciousness."^[3][4] Swedish-American pole vaulter Armand Duplantis and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt were named as ambassadors for the inaugural edition, billed as "Ultimate Star" and "Ultimate Legend" respectively.^[5][6]

The Ultimate Championship will feature limited fields in each discipline, with a quota of sixteen athletes for individual track events, eight athletes for field events, and eight teams for relays. For individual events, invites will be extended to champions from the most recent Summer Olympics, world championships, and Diamond League final, with the remainder of the field determined by the World Athletics Rankings during the one-year ranking period ending prior to the Diamond League final. There is no limit on how many entrants may come from a single country.^[7][8]

For relay events, the World Athletics Relays are used as direct qualifiers for the Ultimate Championship, with the top six finishers advancing, and the final two teams chosen based on performance over the past year. Unlike individual events, a single country may only be represented by one team.^[9][10][11]

The disciplines for the inaugural event were announced in November 2024; to ensure a faster pace, the Ultimate Championship will feature only 28 events, leaving out long-distance events such as the 10,000 metres and the steeplechase, and focusing on field events that were determined to be the most popular among viewers at previous World Athletics Championships.^[2][1]

Field events (except vertical jumps) use a more compact format than standard competitions: two rounds for all eight athletes, then a third round for the top-6 athletes, and a final, fourth round for the top-4, with the order changing from highest to lowest mark after each round.^[12]