Athletics now has a new season-ending showcase after the inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest handed out a record $10m (£7.4m) across three sell-out evenings. The condensed, high‑reward format crowned winners, delivered striking stadium theatre and signalled the start of a biennial competition that will return in 2028.
The event mixed spectacle with cash incentives. Winners received large payouts, with Great Britain’s 1500m champion Josh Kerr pocketing $150,000 after taking his title. Fireworks and an official song, performed by pole vault champion Armand Duplantis, accompanied the new trophy ceremonies, which featured sparklers and music on a plinth at centre stage.
Organisers sought to create an athlete-centred experience. Competitors walked a red carpet on arrival, athlete films played inside the stadium before their events, and victors gave centre-court interviews before joining a champions’ enclosure alongside event ambassador Usain Bolt and master of ceremonies Noah Lyles. "It's a good first step towards changing track and field for the better," said Usain Bolt. "The athletes are loving it. It's a different energy, a different vibe." Britain's Imani-Lara Lansiquot added, "We walked out, we came through the little starlights and we all looked at each other and said, 'this is unbelievable'. It's so rare that things really live up to the expectation, the hype."
The production also introduced broadcast features aimed at enhancing storytelling, including athlete headshots, live win probabilities and projected finishing positions. Those features misfired at times, with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen shown as a predicted 12th before winning the 5,000m, and Kerr projected to finish last prior to his 1500m victory.
Not all responses were unqualified praise. The selection of events followed viewer-engagement data, which led to the exclusion of several distance races, such as the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m, and the omission of shot put and discus. That drew criticism from some athletes. British long jumper Jazmin Sawyers said, "Some field events didn't get any attention because they're not here. The championship is worse off for not having them." She also welcomed the idea of the Ultimate Championship coexisting with traditional global championships rather than replacing them.
Format tweaks increased competitive tension in certain disciplines, with some field events cutting the field down to the top four by the final round. Former 1500m world champion Steve Cram said the event's exposure was important, calling it good for the sport and the profile of athletes. World Athletics and its president, Lord Coe, intend the championship to act as a testing ground for how the sport presents itself moving forward, with the next edition scheduled for 2028.
