ATHLETICS is getting the Hollywood treatment this weekend.
This weekend the flash new competition is complete with a £7.3MILLION prize pot, red carpet arrivals, and the biggest names in sport.
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But there will NOT be a gold medal in sight.
Everyone welcome to the stage… the first-ever World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
The three-night event is set to get underway in Budapest tonight as bosses look to give track and field a glamorous new look.
And it comes with the biggest prize fund in the sport’s history.
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A jaw dropping £7.3m will be handed out across the three days, with individual winners pocketing around £110,000.
Second place will pick up a cheque for £55,000, while athletes finishing third will still take home roughly £29,000.
Even the traditional medals have been ditched.
Every athlete instead receives a unique token when they arrive in Hungary, and champions will have the opportunity to secure a specially-made trophy which their token slots into.
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And organisers have gone all-in on making the event feel unlike any athletics meeting ever seen before.
Athletes were welcomed with a red carpet ahead of the competition, while music acts and photoshoots underlined the Hungarian grandeur.
Inside Budapest’s National Athletics Centre, the usual green infield has been replaced by a stunning black surface designed to draw fans’ eyes towards whichever event is taking place.
There will also be centre-court style interviews immediately after races, augmented reality graphics, live win probabilities and projected finishing positions shown to viewers.
Pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis has even recorded the official song for the championship.
Meanwhile, injured sprint king Noah Lyles will swap the track for hosting duties after being ruled out of competing.
Usain Bolt has also been handed the title of the event’s official “Ultimate Legend”.
And there is no shortage of current star power.
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Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, Josh Kerr and Matthew Hudson-Smith are joined by the likes of Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen in a field reserved mainly for Olympic, world and Diamond League champions.
One of the biggest showdowns could come in the women’s 800m.
Olympic champion Hodgkinson could face Georgia Hunter Bell, European champion Audrey Werro, world champion Lilian Odira and Dutch superstar Femke Broeders-Bol.
Broeders-Bol only recently stepped up from the 400m hurdles but has already thrown herself into the mix against the world’s best over two laps.
Hunter Bell revealed the group have even been discussing getting all five together in Budapest.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “I can’t wait for that. Hopefully the big five will come together soon.
“We’ve been talking after the races. ‘When are you racing? You should get into this one.’
“There’s a good competitive spirit.”
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The competition has been created to fill a gap in the athletics calendar because 2026 is the first season since Covid not due to end with either an Olympics or a routine World Championships.
And World Athletics president Sebastian Coe hopes the new-look event can become a science lab for changes eventually introduced elsewhere.
Speaking to the BBC, Coe said: “It is an attempt to just start experimenting a bit and innovating, with an event that will determine who really is the best of the best.
“There’s no guarantee we’re going get everything right, and no guarantee that everything is going to work.
“In two years, we might look at a slightly different format.
“I also want to be able to put some of the things we’re doing into the World Championship format.
“We have a responsibility to try and engage new young audiences.”
That means keeping everything quick.
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Each night lasts around three hours, with 28 finals crammed across the championship.
Field events, the 1500m and the 5,000m go straight to finals, while shorter track events have semi-finals before the title race.
There will even be a draft in the men’s and women’s 200m, allowing athletes to choose their preferred semi-final and lane in world-ranking order.
But not every event made the cut.
The 10,000m, 3,000m steeplechase, shot put and discus are among those left out, with World Athletics using viewer data – including pulse rate and sweat response – to decide which events kept bums on seats.
It is a bold attempt to avoid the problems which plagued Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track project last year.
The flop competition also promised big prize money and a new format but ran into serious financial problems.
The Ultimate Championship is instead backed directly by World Athletics and will take place every two years.
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How to watch the World Athletics Ultimate Championships 2026
- Friday 11 September
Day 1 (6pm) BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website
- Saturday 12 September
Day 2, Part 1 (5pm) BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website
Day 2, Part 2 (5:55pm) BBC One / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website
- Sunday 13 September
Day 3 (5pm) BBC One / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website
And the governing body has made sure there will be familiar faces returning to Budapest.
Kerr is back at the stadium where he became world champion in 2023 and was handed an invite into a stacked 1500m despite not qualifying automatically.
He will face Ingebrigtsen, Olympic champion Cole Hocker, world champion Isaac Nader and fellow Brit Jake Wightman.
European stars Romell Glave and Jeremiah Azu line up in the men’s 100m alongside world champion Oblique Seville.
Meanwhile, Hudson-Smith goes in the 400m after his victory in Birmingham.
Ingebrigtsen will double up in the 5,000m after returning from a long-term injury to win European gold last month.
And while the BBC couldn’t fork out for the Commonwealth Games, they have found space for this new competition.
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They are set to host coverage each of the three nights
Friday’s events
6:08pm – Mixed 4x100m relay final
6:13pm – Women’s high jump final
6:19pm – Men’s 400m semi-final
6:23pm – Men’s hammer throw final
6:38pm – Women’s 400m semi-final
7:04pm – Women’s 100m hurdles semi-final
7:08pm – Men’s pole vault final
7:21pm – Men’s 110m hurdles semi-final
7:36pm – Men’s 5000m final
7:53pm – Women’s long jump final
7:57pm – Women’s 800m semi-final
8:20pm – Women’s 100m hurdles final
8:49pm – Men’s 110m hurdles final
Saturday’s events
5:08pm – Women’s 400m final
5:13pm – Women’s javelin throw final
5:18pm – Men’s 400m final
5:26pm – Men’s 800m semi-final
5:43pm – Women’s pole vault final
5:46pm – Women’s 400m hurdles semi-final
6:04pm – Women’s 100m semi-final
6:21pm – Men’s 100m semi-final
6:36pm – Women’s 1500m final
6:44pm – Men’s long jump final
6:57pm – Men’s 400m hurdles semi-final
7:18pm – Women’s 800m final
7:38pm – Women’s 100m final
7:49pm – Men’s 100m final
Sunday’s events
5:08pm – Women’s 400m hurdles final
5:13pm – Men’s javelin throw final
5:18pm – Men’s 200m semi-final
5:36pm – Men’s 400m hurdles final
5:44pm – Women’s 200m semi-final
6:04pm – Men’s high jump final
6:10pm – Women’s 5000m final
6:34pm – Women’s triple jump final
6:41pm – Men’s 800m final
6:53pm – Mixed 4x400m relay final
7:12pm – Men’s 1500m final
7:38pm – Men’s 200m final
7:49pm – Women’s 200m final