Inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship gets underway in Budapest

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship gets underway in Budapest on Friday, bringing together many of the sport's crème de la crème for a new season-ending showdown.

The new competition is built around elite head-to-head clashes, with a $10 million prize pot up for grabs. Individual winners will earn $150,000, while relay champions will share $80,000.

That effectively makes it athletics' richest event, with the individual winners’ payout more than doubling what was on offer at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.

The format is designed to produce thrilling, fast-paced action, with no heats involved. The 1,500m, 5,000m and field events are straight finals. Track events up to and including the 800m begin with semi-finals, with the top four advancing to the final. Each of the three evening sessions will run for about three hours.

Friday's opening programme features the men's 5,000m, the men's and women's sprint hurdles, women's high jump, men's pole vault, women's long jump, men's hammer throw, and mixed 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

Africa will have a strong presence in Budapest, led by Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the Olympic and world 800m champion.

The 22-year-old arrives in Budapest in formidable form after winning his fourth consecutive Diamond League Final 800m title in Brussels last week, clocking 1:41.80.

Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic champion over 200m, will also headline the African line-up. His compatriot Collen Kebinatshipi, the 2025 world champion over 400m, is among the athletes entered in Budapest.

Kebinatshipi also arrives in dazzling form, having broken the 400m Diamond League record for the third time this season just seven days ago in Brussels.

Kenya’s representation is significantly diminished by injuries, as at least three elite contenders will be sidelined.

Middle-distance great and three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is among the Kenyan athletes who will be absent after ending her season early because of a hamstring injury. Her compatriot Ferdinand Omanyala, the African men's 100m record-holder, is out with a heel injury.

Lilian Odira, the reigning world 800m champion, was also initially among the top Kenyan contenders but withdrew due to illness.

Essentially, the Ultimate Championship is an attempt to rethink how the sport is presented.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has described the event as an opportunity to create new formats and put the sport's biggest stars at the centre of the show.

"We’re confident in what we’re doing and the birth of the Ultimate, putting athletes first but also being an incubator for change, hopefully in the future changing our own World Championships with the different innovations we have in Budapest," said Coe.

"We want this to be the start of an innovative journey through every aspect of our sport. It’s been an event created with and by the fans, and with and by the athletes. This is an extraordinary event that has huge potential," he added.

Ahead of the competition, a red-carpet event in Budapest placed greater emphasis on athletes' personalities away from competition.

That approach was on display Thursday, when athletes including Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and pole vault world-record holder Mondo Duplantis attended the event's opening celebrations.

Duplantis, who also wrote and performed the championship anthem, said the event would present athletics in a way fans had not seen before.

Eight-time world champion Lyles, one of the sport’s biggest showmen of his generation, will not compete after ending his season because of injury. But the Swedish showman Duplantis is entered in the pole vault final.