The first World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 2026 will feature 28 track and field events over three nights, including the major senior championship debut of the mixed 4x100m relay.
On Friday, World Athletics announced the specific events that will be held at the Ultimate Championship:
Track: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m/110m hurdles, 400m hurdles
Field: pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump (women), hammer throw (men), javelin
Relays: mixed 4x100m, mixed 4x400m
The mixed 4x100m has never been held at an Olympics or world championships. The mixed 4x400m made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Last June, World Athletics announced the creation of the biennial, season-ending Ultimate Championship for years without a World Outdoor Championships. The first edition will be in Budapest from Sept. 11-13, 2026.
Fields of eight to 16 athletes per individual event will be based primarily on world rankings with no limits on athletes per country. Track events will have semifinals and finals. Field events will have strictly finals.
All reigning Olympic gold medalists, world champions and Diamond League season champions are guaranteed spots in their respective events. Athletes will wear national team uniforms.
“The Ultimate Championship will be a high intensity, three day event with just three evening sessions -- each lasting three hours,” according to World Athletics. “Because of this compact format, we can’t include every event from a World Championships.”
World Outdoor Championships last nine days.
Winners will receive $150,000 from a total prize pool of $10 million.
“This new global event will be a game-changer for our sport and for our athletes,” World Athletics President Seb Coe said in a press release. “We want to bring our fans athletics like they have never seen it before – with the best of the best athletes in our sport competing head-to-head in a passion-fueled, high octane, festival of sport, with sound, light and innovation.”
