World Athletics Ultimate Championship launches with record-breaking $10 million prize pool

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The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship will take place in Budapest from September 11-13. The three-day competition features 26 Olympic champions and 26 world champions from Tokyo, as well as top athletes competing for a record $10m prize pot.

The event is invite-only, including Olympic gold medallists, World Championship gold medallists, Diamond League winners, and the best performers based on the World Rankings qualification system. The competition will be held biennially in the World Athletics calendar.

Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, an ambassador for the event, expressed his excitement about the competition. “It’s great to see track and field going in a different direction,” he said. “I would thrive in this moment.”

The $10m prize pot is divided among winners of each event, with first place taking home $150,000. Second place receives $75,000, third place $40,000, and 16th-place finishers receive $2,000. Relay teams will split the remaining prize money.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe explained that the Ultimate Championship replaces traditional medals with a customized trophy for the winners. The competition features direct semifinals or finals, rather than heats. Athletes competing in certain events will have modified rules, such as selecting their preferred semifinal heat and lane based on seed order.

Some events have been excluded from the Ultimate Championship, including shot put, triple jump, women’s hammer throw, and discus throw, as well as long-distance track events like 3,000-metre steeplechase and 10,000-metre. World Athletics cited viewership and priority for faster-paced events in making this decision.

Athletes such as Olympic discus champion Matthew Denny and former world champion Pedro Pichardo have expressed disappointment on social media about the exclusion of certain events.

Source: Al Jazeera