The first edition of the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be in Budapest.

World Athletics has announced the qualification for the inaugural Ultimate Championship (September 11-13, 2026), which will bring together world champions, Olympic champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s best performing athletes.

Each of the three sessions will contain finals and certain events will have two semi-finals, where four out of eight athletes in each will make the final. The 1500m, 5000m and relay races will be straight final. Some field events will have eight athletes competing.

The targeted personnel size for the following track events: 100m – 16, 200m – 16, 400m – 16, 800m – 16, 1500m – 12, 5000m – 12, 100mH /110mH /400mH – 16

The targeted personnel size for the following field events : High jump, Pole vault, Long jump, Triple jump (women only), Javelin throw, hammer throw (men only) - 8 

The targeted personnel size for the relays: 4x100m & 4x400m mixed relays – 8 teams

The events taking place on September 11: Men’s 5000m, 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles, women’s high jump, men’s pole vault, women’s long jump, men’s hammer, mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m

The events taking place on September 12: Women’s 100m, men’s 100m, women’s 800m, women’s 1500m, women’s 400m hurdles, men’s 400m hurdles, women’s pole vault, men’s long jump, women’s javelin

The events taking place on September 13: Women’s 200m, men’s 200m, women’s 400m, men’s 400m, men’s 800m, men’s 1500m, women’s 5000m, men’s high jump, women’s triple jump, men’s javelin

A record-setting prize pot of $10 million – the largest ever offered in a single track and field event – is on offer in Budapest.

The prize money breakdown for individual events: 1st – $150,000, 2nd – $75,000, 3rd – $40,000, 4th – $25,000, 5th – $16,000, 6th – $14,000, 7th – $12,000, 8th – $10,000, 9th – $9000, 10th – $8000, 11th – $7000, 12th – $6000, 13th – $5000, 14th – $4000, 15th – $3000, 16th – $2000

The prize money breakdown for relays: 1st – $80,000, 2nd – $40,000, 3rd – $24,000, 4th – $20,000, 5th – $16,000, 6th – $14,000, 7th – $10,000, 8th – $8000

The way individual athletes can earn invites includes by:

• Being an Olympic champion from Paris 2024
• Being a world champion from the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
• Winning the 2026 Brussels Diamond League Final
• Their position on the world rankings during the ranking period of September 2, 2025 to September 1, 2026

As eligible athletes are personally invited to participate, there’s no cap on how many stars from a country can compete in each individual event.

For the mixed 4x100m and 4x400m, there will also be automatic invitations for the first six placed teams at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Gaborone. The remaining two teams will be selected based on the best performances achieved during the qualification period of August 22, 2025 to September 1, 2026.