What is the World Athletics Ultimate Championship? The largest ever track & field meet with $10 million prize money pool & $150k for gold medalists

World Athletics announced the launch of a new global championship called the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, which would be a global track and field event that would offer the largest prize money pool to the athletes. The ground-breaking development took the track and field world by storm.

The new track and field championship will feature some of the best athletes from all around the globe and will be a part of the World Athletics track and field calendar from 2026. World Athletics put out a detailed press release, delving deep into the intricacies of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

The way the event is arranged and scheduled on the racing calendar makes it an amazing way to round off the summer track and field season. With a total prize pool of $10 million, the global championship will usher in a new age of rewards for the track and field community. Individual gold medalists will receive $150,000.

The event will also help athletes alleviate their brand image and profile by greater benefits from promotional rights. This is a step taken by the governing body addressing the concern of track and field athletes being paid less as compared to their contemporaries.

The president of the World Athletics, Sebastian Coe spoke in detail about the event during the press release.

" The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be high on action and excitement for fans, setting a new standard for track and field events. Featuring athletics’ biggest stars, it will be a must-watch global sports event and means track and field will host a major global championship in every single year, ensuring for the first time that athletics will enjoy a moment of maximum audience reach on an annual basis,” he said.

" “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,” he added.

When will the World Athletics Ultimate Championship commence?

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be making its debut in the world athletics calendar on September 11, 2026, in Budapest, Hungary. The inaugural edition of the event will be held over 3 days from September 11 to 13, 2024.

World Athletics Ultimate Championship- Prize Money?

The gold medalists of this global championship would win a prize money of $150,000 out of a total prize money pool of $10 Million.

How will the World Athletics Ultimate Championship be different from traditional meets?

The meet calendar is designed in such a manner that all three days promise incredible performances across all disciplines with three hours of power-packed performances only in the evening.

Unlike, traditional track and field meets, this event would only have the semi-finals and finals featuring 16 athletes for track events. Furthermore, the field events will feature only the finals in which the top 8 athletes of the world will be competing for the Ultimate title.

World Athletics Ultimate Championship- Participating Athletes

The new benchmark event will feature the 8 to 16 of the top-ranked athletes based on the latest world ranking of that year.