Day-by-day guide to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship

Day-by-day guide to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship

AW
Published: 11th September, 2026
Updated: 11th September, 2026
BY Athletics Weekly

Everything you need to know about the track and field contests in Budapest this weekend.

Deep into one of the longest seasons on the calendar, the world's best track and field athletes assemble in Budapest this week for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship – a brand new event built, in the words of World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, to avoid the sport ever having a quiet year again. Gone are medals, traditional heats-through-to-finals formats and a conventional running order; in their place are straight finals wherever possible, a blacked-out infield spotlighting one event at a time and a $10 million prize pot that guarantees every one of the 381 competing athletes goes home with something, with $150,000 on offer for each individual champion.

With three sessions across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, here's a day-by-day guide to the action, and who to watch – including a strong British contingent across the three days.

Friday, September 11

19:08 (18:08 UK) – Mixed 4x100m final – Britain go into the race with the second-fastest season best in the field behind Jamaica, giving them a real shot at troubling the favourites, with the United States also expected to be strong. The GB team is: Amy Hunt, Success Eduan, Romell Glave, Jeremiah Azu, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Elliot Jones.

19:13 (18:13 UK) – Women's high jump final – Looks wide open between Diamond League and Commonwealth Games champion Eleanor Patterson, European champion and world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who has lost her last three competitions, and Nicola Olyslagers.

Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers (Getty)

19:19 (18:19 UK) – Men's 400m semi – Busang Collen Kebinatshipi has been undefeated since March and starts favourite, but faces a genuine threat from Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith, whose 43.44 personal best is actually the fastest in the field, with Jereem Richards and Rai Benjamin also in contention.

19:23 (18:23 UK) – Men's hammer throw final – Hungary's own Bence Halász, the world leader and European champion, will hope to win on home soil, but faces Ethan Katzberg, unbeaten for over a year since the pair's last meeting.

Bence Halász (Getty)

19:38 (18:38 UK) – Women's 400m semi – Marileidy Paulino remains close to unbeatable, having lost only once in more than a year, to Salwa Eid Naser, who returns to the field having missed the Diamond League final; Britain's Yemi Mary John is also in the field.

20:04 (19:04 UK) – Women's 100m hurdles semi – Masai Russell, the new world record-holder and undefeated since the World Championships in Tokyo, should crown an extraordinary season with the title.

20:08 (19:08 UK) – Men's pole vault final – Should be one of the night's highlights if Mondo Duplantis has recovered from injury, with Manolo Karalis his closest challenger.

Emmanouil Karalis and Mondo Duplantis (Getty)

20:21 (19:21 UK) – Men's 110m hurdles semi – World record-holder and Diamond League champion Ja'Kobe Tharp heads the field ahead of Jamal Britt.

20:36 (19:36 UK) – Men's 5000m final – Appears wide open with Diamond League champion Birhanu Balew absent. European and Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Cole Hocker in his first race at the distance since winning the world title in Tokyo, an in-form Parker Wolfe, and fast finishers from Brussels led by Egide Ntakarutimana are all in contention.

Cole Hocker (Getty)

20:53 (19:53 UK) – Women's long jump final – Similarly unpredictable after European champion Larissa Iapichino lost out to Monae' Nichols at the Diamond League final; Commonwealth champion Jazmin Sawyers also features.

20:57 (19:57 UK) – Women's 800m semi – Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol renew their season-long duel, with Keely Hodgkinson – making her first start since defeat in Birmingham – hoping to push her way back into the conversation.

21:20 (20:20 UK) – Women's 100m hurdles final

21:49 (20:49 UK) – Men's 110m hurdles final

Saturday, September 12

18:08 (17:08 UK) – Women's 400m final

18:13 (17:13 UK) – Women's javelin final – China's Yan Ziyi is favourite, with intrigue over whether she can add a 70-metre throw, or even threaten the world record.

Ziyi Yan (Getty)

18:18 (17:18 UK) – Men's 400m final

18:26 (17:26 UK) – Men's 800m semi – An in-form Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Brandon Miller (who skipped the Diamond League final), European champion Mark English, plus Britain's Max Burgin and Ben Pattison, will battle it out.

18:43 (17:43 UK) – Women's pole vault final – Diamond League champion Hana Moll faces European champion Angelica Moser and Sandi Morris, who missed the Diamond League final.

18:46 (17:46 UK) – Women's 400m hurdles semi – World leader and Diamond League champion Anna Cockrell heads the field, challenged by European champion Emma Zapletalová, a returning Jasmine Jones and Britain's Lina Nielsen.

Anna Cockrell (centre) beats Emma Zapletalova (left) (Getty)

19:04 (18:04 UK) – Women's 100m semi – A stellar duel awaits between Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Julien Alfred, level at 1-1 in their head-to-heads this season. Amy Hunt, ranked sixth in the world, lines up too.

19:21 (18:21 UK) – Men's 100m semi – Diamond League champion Oblique Seville, unbeaten in his last two races, is favourite ahead of Commonwealth champion Emmanuel Eseme and Kenny Bednarek, with Britain's Romell Glave and Jeremiah Azu also in the field.

19:36 (18:36 UK) – Women's 1500m final – Could produce the most surprising champion of the weekend. Klaudia Kazimierska dominated the Diamond League final with a world-leading run, and faces her Brussels challengers Dorcus Ewoi, Jess Hull and Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell, plus 5000m Diamond League champion Freweyni Hailu in her first 1500m since late June.

Klaudia Kazimierska (Getty)

19:44 (18:44 UK) – Men's long jump final – Looks like being a duel between world leader and European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and Diamond League and Commonwealth champion Tajay Gayle.

19:57 (18:57 UK) – Men's 400m hurdles semi – Perhaps the standout event of the entire championship. Freshly minted world record-holder Alison Dos Santos lines up against his season-long rival Karsten Warholm and, for the first time since the World Championships in Tokyo, Rai Benjamin – with the world record potentially in danger again.

Alison dos Santos (Getty)

20:18 (19:18 UK) – Women's 800m final

20:38 (19:38 UK) – Women's 100m final

20:49 (19:49 UK) – Men's 100m final

Sunday, September 13

18:08 (17:08 UK) – Women's 400m hurdles final

18:13 (17:13 UK) – Men's javelin final – World leading Diamond League and Commonwealth champion Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage faces a serious challenge for the first time this year from European champion Julian Weber, with Arshad Nadeem also back after a disappointing Commonwealth Games.

18:18 (17:18 UK) – Men's 200m semi – Kenny Bednarek looks to confirm his dominant season with a world-leading time and a lifetime best.

18:36 (17:36 UK) – Men's 400m hurdles final

18:44 (17:44 UK) – Women's 200m semi – A first meeting this season between Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Gabby Thomas, but Britain's Amy Hunt, ranked third in the world this year, arrives as a genuine threat.

19:04 (18:04 UK) – Men's high jump final – Has been a lottery all season, and Budapest brings together European champion Gianmarco Tamberi, world leader JuVaughn Harrison and surprise Diamond League champion Mateusz Kolodziejski.

READ MORE: Usain Bolt on the "Ultimate payday"

19:10 (18:10 UK) – Women's 5000m final – Largely an Ethiopian affair, with six in the field led by Diamond League champion Freweyni Hailu, backing up her Saturday 1500m, world leader Likina Amebaw, and their main challenger, Commonwealth champion Rose Davies; Britain's Hannah Nuttall also lines up.

19:34 (18:34 UK) – Women's triple jump final – Diamond League champion Saly Sarr is in good form but faces Cuba's Leyanis Pérez Hernández and Davisleydi Velazco, plus world leader and Commonwealth champion Thea LaFond.

19:41 (18:41 UK) – Men's 800m final

19:53 (18:53 UK) – Mixed 4x400m relay final – Brings together the top two from the World Relays, the United States and Jamaica, with Britain also in the field and boasting the fourth-fastest season best.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr (Getty)

20:12 (19:12 UK) – Men's 1500m final – The race the whole championship has been building towards: mile world record-holder, Commonwealth champion and world leader Josh Kerr against the top two from the Diamond League final, Cameron Myers and Phanuel Koech, with Cole Hocker looking to bounce back from disappointment in Brussels, and 2022 world champion Jake Wightman also part of a strong British presence in the field. Jakob Ingebrigtsen remains entered as well as in the 5000m, though there's a growing suggestion he may wait until after Friday's race before deciding whether to actually line up for this one, rather than risk the double.

20:38 (19:38 UK) – Men's 200m final

20:49 (19:49 UK) – Women's 200m final

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