Coe trusts the Ultimate Championship to innovate in athletics

The president of World Athletics said on Friday that this new team competition, officially unveiled by the sport's governing body, would be a "gamechanger" for track and field. The inaugural event will take place in Budapest from 11 to 13 September 2026 and will be held every two years.

The federation stated that the event would provide "a spectacular conclusion to the summer athletics season in years where there is no World Athletics Championships". The event features a "record-setting" prize fund of $10 million (€9.6 million). World Athletics described it as "the largest ever offered in track and field", with champions set to receive $150,000 (€143,000). Each session will last three hours, and athletes will represent both themselves and their national teams, competing in the national kit.

Exciting morning in Budapest today for the reveal of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

This new global event will be a game-changer for our sport and for our athletes. We want to bring our fans athletics like they have never seen it before – with the best of the best… pic.twitter.com/8z8TH0spYw

— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) November 22, 2024

Sebastian Coe, speaking at a press conference at the stadium in Budapest where the 2023 World Championships took place, said: "This new global event will be a game-changer for our sport and for our athletes. We want to deliver athletics to our fans in a way they've never seen before, with the best of the best athletes in our sport going head-to-head in a passion-fuelled, high-octane festival of sport, complete with sound, light, and innovation."

Coe emphasised his ambition to create a "world-beating" event that could "engage viewers who might never have watched athletics". He told AFP in an interview: "This is the holy grail of all sports: how do you reach out to all audiences in a way that feels familiar to them?"

'Insane Pace'

The announcement comes following the unveiling of details by former Olympic sprint champion Michael Johnson about his four-meet Grand Slam Track series, which debuts next year with three-day events in Kingston, Jamaica; Miami; Philadelphia; and Los Angeles.

Johnson's series is widely regarded as a challenge to the established Diamond League circuit as athletics seeks greater visibility outside the Olympics and World Championships. The Ultimate Championship, which unlike Grand Slam Track will also include field events, will take place after the Diamond League finals.

In another distinction between Grand Slam Track and the Ultimate Championship, World Athletics already has a broadcast partner for its event: Tata Communications and Host Broadcast Services (HBS). Coe expressed the aim of creating a "free-to-air" event that could attract the largest possible audience, saying: "It's all up there for discussion." Meanwhile, Grand Slam Track has yet to announce a broadcasting deal, with Johnson maintaining that he is still seeking the ideal partner.

In Budapest, the Ultimate Championship will feature nearly 400 athletes competing to be crowned "ultimate champions", with events including the 100m, 800m, pole vault, high jump, and a new 4x100m mixed relay. World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon remarked that the new event, combined with the launch of Grand Slam Track, demonstrated that "athletics is in a positive growth phase at the moment".

World pole vault record holder and two-time Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis described the event as "insane". "The new Ultimate Championship in 2026 will be the ultimate highlight in a year without a World Championships or Olympic Games," the Swede said. "Nothing compares to competing in front of a live crowd. Anyone who knows me or has seen me compete knows this is where I thrive. Even with fewer events, there will still be 26 individual events taking place over just three nights; the pace will be insane."