The World Athletics Ultimate Championship, held in Budapest from September 11-13, brought together roughly 400 elite athletes in a compact three-evening championship. The event featured Olympic champions, world champions, Diamond League winners, and top-ranked athletes competing for a total prize purse of $10 million, the largest in track-and-field history.
Individual champions received $150,000, a significant increase from traditional track-and-field events. This new format acknowledges that elite sport is also entertainment, and that professional athletes have short earning windows.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship produced exciting matchups, including the men’s 400-meter hurdles, where Brazil’s Alison dos Santos ran 45.98, the third-fastest performance in history. Josh Kerr won the 1500 in 3:29.35, holding off Cameron Myers at 3:29.68.
The compressed format created consequences, with only the top six athletes surviving beyond round two in the men’s hammer. Olympic and world champion Ethan Katzberg fouled his first two throws and was finished, while Germany’s Merlin Hummel won at 81.46 meters.
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Traditional track meets can be confusing for viewers, with multiple events occurring simultaneously. The Ultimate Championship aimed to solve this by featuring a faster format, with three nights of competition, stars, national teams, limited fields, and real money.
Athletes who peak for traditional championships may be punished by the compressed format, and invitation and ranking systems can create arguments about who gets left out. However, the addition of serious money to the event can make it more compelling, as seen in other sports like bodybuilding.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship’s new format and significant prize purse may be a step in the right direction for track and field, making it more entertaining and lucrative for athletes. One athlete noted that “the honor of competition” is wonderful, but it doesn’t make mortgage payments, and the $10 million purse can help change that.
Notably, other athletes also achieved impressive results, such as Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw, who took the women’s 5000 in 14:30.36, and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage, who won the javelin with a 91.09-meter final-round throw. Former world-record holder Karsten Warholm finished third in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 46.78. These performances demonstrate the high level of competition at the event and highlight the potential for track and field to become more commercially valuable, even for athletes who may not be as well-known as their counterparts in other sports, such as a mediocre second-string NFL quarterback.
