From Mondo Duplantis and Yaroslava Mahuchikh to Yulimar Rojas and Ethan Katzberg, the field event stars set to compete at the inaugural Ultimate Championship promise a spectacular finale to the 2026 athletics season.

The 2026 track and field season will reach a thrilling climax in Budapest this September and there are some mouth-watering field event contests in store.

They include:

Women’s high jump – Yaroslava Mahuchikh v Nicola Olyslagers 

This will be another clash to watch out for, with Ukraine’s world record-holder and Paris Olympic gold medallist facing up to Australia’s reigning world champion.

The two top-class athletes have had a number of close contests over the years, most recently at the World Indoor Championships in Poland where Mahuchikh came out on top and Olyslagers was part of a three-way tie for silver.

Women's triple jump – Thea LaFond v Leyanis Perez v Yulimar Rojas

After last season and a thrilling climax to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, it’s anyone’s guess who will end this season as the queen of the triple jump.

Venezuela’s world record-holder Yulimar Rojas has looked impressive early on in 2026 with a best of 14.95m, having endured a lengthy setback with her achilles since 2024.

In her absence, the form athlete has been Leyanis Perez, who edged a captivating final in Tokyo with gold for Cuba as she soared to 14.94m, just five centimetres clear of Olympic champion Thea LaFond. All three have started the year in good form, although it was Perez who again came out on top in Toruń ahead of Rojas.

Men's hammer – Ethan Katzberg v Bence Halász

He’s been likened to Thor while his long hair and moustache combination has had social media querying whether he is more Australian than Canadian. But there’s no denying Ethan Katzberg is the benchmark for the hammer throw.

Moments after winning a second world title and third global gold by the age of 23, he immediately turned his attention to the Ultimate Championship.

In Budapest, he anticipates the hammer will take centre stage in front of a fanbase in rapture to the event and the locals will make no secret of their favourite, Hungary’s Bence Halász, who was the first man to throw over 80 metres this season.

Men's pole vault – Mondo Duplantis v Emmanouil Karalis

For a time, fans were talking about another athlete in this event in the early part of 2026 – a potential challenger to Mondo Duplantis’ hegemony.

Emmanouil ‘Manolo’ Karalis cleared a staggering 6.17m – bettering his previous best by 12 centimetres – in February to put him second on the world all-time list.

Sure, Duplantis has since gone well past that with a 15th world record of 6.31m at the Mondo Classic in March. But Karalis suggested there’s plenty left in the tank after his 6.17m at the Greek Indoor Championships when he went over that height with room to spare. And while Duplantis won world indoor gold, he credited Karalis with piling the pressure on.

But it’s not just that top two, with Kurtis Marschall handing Duplantis a surprise defeat recently in Stockholm.

Women's long jump – Tara Davis-Woodhall v Agate de Sousa

Seven metres is perpetually the goal for the world’s best long jumpers and Portugal’s Agate de Sousa is no exception. Her best of 6.97m – set this season in Madrid – has edged her ever closer to that so far elusive mark and she has a world indoor title to her name from Poland in March.

But it’s still some way shy of USA’s Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Olympic and world champion who jumped 7.13m last year and has a PB of 7.18m from 2024.

There are plenty of other athletes in or around the seven-metre mark already this season: Larissa Iapichino, the silver medallist behind De Sousa at the World Indoors, plus bronze medal-winner Natalia Linares and Malaika Mihambo of Germany are among them.

This inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship takes place on September 11-13 at the spectacular venue that sits on the banks of the Danube and is just a hop, skip and a jump from the heart of one of Europe’s great cities.

The National Athletics Centre, innovatively designed to leave a lasting impact and become a sporting hub for Budapest’s residents, will look slightly different this time around. The arena’s temporary upper tier has been removed to leave a circular plateau that was filled with publicly available leisure areas.

It is the main competition venue and training hub for Hungarian athletics, but is also used by youth and recreational athletes who can find training tracks, running tracks, street workouts and many other opportunities.

Fans will be able to see the transformation and sample the unique atmosphere for themselves at the Ultimate Championship, launched by World Athletics with the guiding principle of ending each athletics season with a major global championship. It is intentionally designed to showcase the finest talent, such as Ultimate Stars Duplantis and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, within a fast-paced and dynamic structure built explicitly with fans in mind.

Away from the action, there will be so much for spectators to see and do. Having staged a large number of major events, Budapest has become a favourite location in international sports and tourism due to its historical heritage, state-of-the-art infrastructure and stability. Its rich culture dates back to Roman times and is a melting pot of diversity today.

The Hungarian capital is a city where everything you need is within easy reach, whether that be on foot or by using the extensive public transport links. It is at the heart of Europe and will also be at the heart of one of this summer’s great celebrations of sport.

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