The first edition of the World Ultimate Athletics Championships 2026 will take place in Budapest.
World Athletics has announced qualification for the inaugural Ultimate Championship (September 11-13, 2026), bringing together world champions, Olympic champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s top performing athletes.
Each of the three sessions will contain finals and certain events will have two semi-finals, where four of eight athletes in each will reach the final. The 1,500 m, 5,000 m and relay races will be direct finals. In some field events eight athletes will compete.
The target staff size for the following track events: 100m – 16, 200m – 16, 400m – 16, 800m – 16, 1500m – 12, 5000m – 12, 100mH /110mH /400mH – 16
The target staff size for the following field events: High jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump (women only), javelin throw, hammer throw (men only) – 8
The target personnel size for the reliefs: 4x100m and 4x400m mixed relay – 8 teams
The events that will take place on September 11: Men’s 5000m, 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles, women’s high jump, men’s pole vault, women’s long jump, men’s hammer, 4x100m mixed and 4x400m mixed
The events that will take place on September 12: Women’s 100 m, Men’s 100 m, Women’s 800 m, Women’s 1500 m, Women’s 400 m hurdles, Men’s 400 m hurdles, Women’s pole vault, Men’s long jump, Women’s javelin
The events that will take place on September 13: Women’s 200 m, Men’s 200 m, Women’s 400 m, Men’s 400 m, Men’s 800 m, Men’s 1500 m, Women’s 5000 m, Men’s high jump, Women’s triple jump, Men’s javelin
A record $10 million prize is being offered in Budapest, the largest ever offered in a single athletics event.
The prize money breakdown for individual events: 1st – $150,000, 2nd – $75,000, 3rd – $40,000, 4th – $25,000, 5th – $16,000, 6th – $14,000, 7th – $12,000, 8th – $10,000, 9th – $9,000, 10th – $8000, 11th – $7000, 12th – $6000, 13th – $5000, 14th – $4000, 15th – $3000, 16th – $2000
The breakdown of the prize money for relays: 1st – $80,000, 2nd – $40,000, 3rd – $24,000, 4th – $20,000, 5th – $16,000, 6th – $14,000, 7th – $10,000, 8th – $8000
How individual athletes can earn invitations includes:
• Be Olympic champion from Paris 2024
• Be world champion of the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships
• Win the 2026 Brussels Diamond League final
• Your position in the world ranking during the qualification period from September 2, 2025 to September 1, 2026.
As eligible athletes are personally invited to participate, there is no limit to the number of stars from a country who can compete in each individual event.
For the mixed 4x100m and 4x400m, there will also be automatic invitations to the top six qualified teams at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Gaborone. The remaining two teams will be selected based on the best performances achieved during the qualification period from August 22, 2025 to September 1, 2026.
