Kerr and Ingebrigtsen set for head-to-head collision at Ultimate Championship
Big event in Budapest next month will see the world mile record-holder taking on the European 5000m champion over 1500m, plus Olympic champion Cole Hocker, while Gianmarco Tamberi is confirmed for the high jump.
Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen will finally settle their rivalry on the same start line, after both were confirmed via exceptional invitation for the men's 1500m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest this September.
The pair have long sparred both on the track and in the press and their rivalry now looks set to headline the inaugural championship. Kerr, Britain's 2023 world champion, arrives in career-best form having set a mile world record of 3:42.66 in London in July. Ingebrigtsen, the 2021 Olympic 1500m champion, already held an automatic invitation to the 5000m as reigning Olympic champion in that event and will now contest both disciplines in Budapest.
"I'm excited to race the 1500m at the Ultimate Championship," said Kerr. "I've made some choices this season that have created plenty of noise, but I've always wanted to prove myself in the biggest races, against the best in the world. Budapest gives me another opportunity to do that, and I'm coming to compete for the win."
Ingebrigtsen was similarly enthusiastic: "I love racing and I try to do as much as I can. I'm excited to run in Budapest!"
Their inclusion turns an already stacked field into what organisers are calling a genuine test of who is best of the best. Cole Hocker, the 2024 Olympic champion, and Isaac Nader, the 2025 world champion, were already confirmed, meaning Budapest will bring together the reigning Olympic, world and world-record holders in the same 1500m final.
To accommodate the two exceptional invitations, the field has been expanded from 11 to 13, with prize money extended accordingly – $5000 for 13th place, in line with the distribution across other disciplines. It's a notable step: exceptional invitations are otherwise capped at one per discipline for this first edition of the championship. But the Ultimate Championship's steering board concluded, after careful deliberation, that no field could credibly claim to showcase the greatest athletes on the planet without both Kerr and Ingebrigtsen in it.
World and Olympic gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi has also been confirmed for the men's high jump by exceptional invitation. The Italian arrives having just won a fourth European Championships title, clearing 2.32m in Birmingham.
"I am really looking forward to competing at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship," said Tamberi. "I have very fond memories of Budapest, where I won my World Championships title in 2023, and I cannot wait to go back to this amazing place. I hope everyone will come to watch the high jump on Sunday, because now, after the Europeans, the goal is to go all out on that day."
As hosts, Hungary has also been granted exceptional invitations for four individual athletes and two relay teams:
Each Hungarian athlete added will be guaranteed $1000 in prize money, with their respective disciplines' field sizes increasing by one to accommodate them.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship takes place on September 11-13 and is designed to settle the debate over who is the best of the best, bringing together world champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners and the year's top-ranked athletes to be crowned champion of champions. The inaugural edition carries a prize pot of $10 million.
