Armand Duplantis walked away from Friday night's opening session in Budapest with the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship and a $150,000 slice of the event's $10m prize pot, reinforcing his place as the meet's headline attraction.
The Swedish pole vaulter had already guaranteed the title before his final attempts and treated the sell-out crowd of more than 20,000 to a further personal touch, performing the championship's official song which he wrote and recorded. He tried and failed to clear 6.32m, so he did not add a 16th world record to his career total, but a close contest with Greek challenger Emmanouil Karalis produced a dramatic finish to the opening session.
"I approached this event with a combination of a lot of nerves and excitement," Duplantis said. "This was a missing piece for me to become the ultimate champion." He is scheduled to perform the official song live in the stadium on Sunday.
The meeting's organisers used a condensed, three-day format and theatrical presentation to reshape athletics' spectacle. The infield was painted black and the sandpit given a bright pink finish to focus attention, while augmented reality overlays on television provided athlete headshots, win probabilities and projected finishing positions. Win percentages were shown on screens and podium moments were punctuated by sparklers as winners lifted trophies from plinths before joining a winners' enclosure in the stands alongside figures such as Usain Bolt and Noah Lyles.
Friday's programme packed eight finals into three hours. Victories included Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Masai Russell, and the United States 4x100m quartet won in 39.64 seconds and shared $80,000. Great Britain finished third in 40.26 with Romell Glave, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Jeremiah Azu and Success Eduan on the team.
There were several notable individual performances and qualification results. Jazmin Sawyers returned from an Achilles rupture to take second in the women's long jump with 6.78m and said, "I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a bit more in me but this competition was always a bonus for me." Keely Hodgkinson led the women's 800m qualifiers in 1:57.57 and advanced to Saturday's final alongside Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol. Matthew Hudson-Smith reached the men's 400m final after a 44.79 seconds semi, while Botswana's Collen Kebinatshipi posted the fastest semi time at 44.23. Yemi Mary John finished fifth in her semi and missed the women's final.
In the 5,000m, Jakob Ingebrigtsen held off Cole Hocker to win in 12:59.24 as he prepares for Sunday's 1500m reunion with Josh Kerr. World Athletics and president Lord Coe have presented the Ultimate Championship as an experiment in format and presentation, and the opening night combined competitive drama with showpiece production.
The competition continues across Saturday and Sunday with more finals, including the headline 1500m, which will decide the remaining inaugural winners and the allocation of the rest of the $10m prize fund.
