Budapest hosts inaugural Athletics Ultimate Championship with record prize money and sprint drama
The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship is taking place in Budapest from 11-13 September, gathering 381 athletes from 65 federations, with early highlights including a photo-finish in the 110m hurdles and a strong 5,000m win for Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
A new format with record prize money
Budapest is hosting the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship from 11 to 13 September, according to worldathletics.org. The event brings together 381 athletes from 65 national federations competing across 28 disciplines, including numerous Olympic and world champions as well as Diamond League winners. Organisers have set up a record prize pot of $10 million, with individual event winners earning $150,000 each.
Tharp wins a dramatic finish
In the men's 110m hurdles final, American Ja'Kobe Tharp won in 12.94 seconds, according to FloTrack. He edged out compatriot Cordell Tinch by just 0.01 seconds; Tinch crossed the line in a season-best 12.95. Bradley Franklin took third in 13.01, and Trey Cunningham finished fourth in 13.08 — American athletes filled all four top spots. Switzerland's Jason Joseph and American Jamal Britt were both disqualified. Earlier this season, in June, Tharp had lowered the world record in the event to 12.75, per worldathletics.org, though his winning time in Budapest was slower than that mark.
Ingebrigtsen and Duplantis deliver
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men's 5,000m final, finishing under 13 minutes for only the second time in his career, he said after the race, according to BBC Sport. He described his season as having exceeded expectations after early doubts about his form. Sweden's Mondo Duplantis won the pole vault and made an attempt at a new world record, BBC Sport reported, though the outcome of that attempt was not detailed. Duplantis had already improved his own world record to 6.31m earlier this season; his main rival in Budapest, Greece's Emmanouil Karalis, has cleared 6.20m this year and arrives as the Diamond League champion.
A stacked start list
Other entrants include Olympic champions Gabby Thomas, Marileidy Paulino, Keely Hodgkinson, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Letsile Tebogo and Ethan Katzberg. In the women's 100m hurdles, Masai Russell holds this season's fastest time of 12.09 seconds, while Brazil's Alison dos Santos leads the men's 400m hurdles world list with 45.80 seconds, set last month in Zurich, according to worldathletics.org.
