2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship

2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship
Dates11–13 September 2026
Host cityBudapest, Hungary
VenueNational Athletics Centre (Budapest)
LevelSenior
TypeOutdoor
Events28

The 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from 11–13 September 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]

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 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

Event 2024 Olympic Champion 2025 World Champion 2026 Diamond League final winner
100 m Noah Lyles
 United States		 Oblique Seville
 Jamaica
200 m Letsile Tebogo
 Botswana		 Noah Lyles
 United States
400 m Quincy Hall
 United States		 Collen Kebinatshipi
 Botswana
800 m Emmanuel Wanyonyi
 Kenya
1500 m Cole Hocker
 United States		 Isaac Nader
 Portugal
5000 m Jakob Ingebrigtsen
 Norway		 Cole Hocker
 United States
110 m hurdles Grant Holloway
 United States		 Cordell Tinch
 United States
400 m 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

Women's

Event 2024 Olympic Champion 2025 World Champion 2026 Diamond League final winner
100 m Julien Alfred
 Saint Lucia		 Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
 United States
200 m Gabby Thomas
 United States		 Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
 United States
400 m Marileidy Paulino
 Dominican Republic		 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
 United States
800 m Keely Hodgkinson
 Great Britain		 Lilian Odira
 Kenya
1500 m Faith Kipyegon
 Kenya
5000 m Beatrice Chebet
 Kenya
100 m hurdles Masai Russell
 United States		 Ditaji Kambundji
 Switzerland
400 m 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

Wildcards

Additionally, several athletes received exceptional invitations to compete at the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship.[7] Among the international invitees were Josh Kerr (Great Britain) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway), who were both added to the men's 1500 metres. Their inclusion expanded the field to 13 athletes. Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) was also granted an invitation in the men's high jump. As host nation, Hungary received exceptional invitations for Patrik Enyingi (400 m), Luca Kozák (100 m hurdles), Sára Mátó (400 m hurdles), Boglárka Takács (100 m and 200 m), as well as the Hungarian mixed 4 × 100 m and 4 × 400 m relay teams.

Schedule

S Semi-finals F Final

[8]

Participating nations

Participating National Olympic Committees

Medal summary

Men

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
200 metres
400 metres
800 metres
1500 metres
5000 metres
110 metres hurdles
400 metres hurdles
High jump
Pole vault
Long jump
Hammer throw
Javelin throw

Women

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres
200 metres
400 metres
800 metres
1500 metres
5000 metres
100 metres hurdles
400 metres hurdles
High jump
Pole vault
Long jump
Triple jump
Javelin throw

Mixed

Event Gold Silver Bronze
4 × 100 metres relay
4 × 400 metres relay

References

  1. ↑ "World Athletics Ultimate Championship: New event with record prize fund to launch in 2026". BBC Sport. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "World Athletics unveils new entry rules". Inside the Games. 10 October 2025. Archived from the original on 10 October 2025. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  3. ↑ Dickinson, Marley (30 October 2025). "World Athletics releases qualifying criteria for 2026 Ultimate Championships". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 "'Road to the Ultimate' launches". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Qualification system and 'road to' tool launched for World Athletics Ultimate Championship". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  6. 1 2 Dickinson, Marley (30 October 2025). "World Athletics releases qualifying criteria for 2026 Ultimate Championships". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
  7. ↑ "Exceptional invitations announced for World Athletics Ultimate Championship". worldathletics.org. 24 August 2026. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  8. ↑ 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship schedule World Athletics. 19 December 2025
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