World Athletics has introduced a new global championships, the Ultimate Championships, which promises $150,000 prizes for gold medalists, significantly exceeding the $50,000 cash pledge for champions at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
This move positions the Ultimate Championships as a potential rival to the Olympics.
The inaugural Ultimate Championships will take place in Budapest from September 11-13, 2026, featuring Olympic, world, and Diamond League champions over three evening sessions. Each event will include either eight or 16 athletes, competing for a total prize fund of $10 million, the richest in the sport’s history.
This biennial event will alternate with the World Championships, held in odd-numbered years, setting the second Ultimate edition to compete directly with the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games scheduled for July.
“With only the best of the best on show and cutting straight to semi-finals and finals, we will create an immediate pressure to perform for athletes aiming to claim the title of the ultimate champion,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe in a statement.
On a wing and a prayer
The initiative to better reward athletes might be met with some skepticism from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In April, Coe committed to paying $50,000 for each gold medal in 48 track and field events at the Paris Olympics, funded directly from World Athletics’ share of the IOC’s revenue, which was nearly $40 million from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Addressing the criticism over adding prize money to the Olympics and launching a new event, Coe said, “I didn’t do any of these moves on a wing and a prayer. I’m elected to represent my sport in the Olympic movement, not the Olympic movement in my sport.”
World Athletics aims to make the Ultimate Championships even more valuable, allowing athletes to promote their brands in ways restricted during the Olympics due to the IOC’s sponsor protections. “Athletes will also benefit from greater promotional rights,” World Athletics stated, “allowing them to commercially activate and enhance their personal profiles.”
Coe, seen as a potential candidate for IOC President in 2025 to succeed Thomas Bach, appears to be focusing on securing the welfare of track and field athletes. This strategy contrasts with the capacities of other less wealthy governing bodies in Olympic sports, whose leaders, critical of Coe’s April pledge, are also IOC members.
