Ultimate Championships 2026: Chebet, Kipyegon, Tebogo and Wanyonyi set to compete to be crowned "ultimate champions"

World Athletics has officially started the countdown to the Ultimate Championships, a new global event that will bring together the world's best athletes in Budapest from 11 to 13 September 2026. With 500 days to go, 26 Olympic champions have been announced as automatic qualifiers. Among them are several major figures from the African continent, including Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet and Letsile Tebogo.

Staged at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, this championship, unlike any before it, aims to name the "ultimate champions" of world athletics. Over three days, the world's best will contest 28 finals across three competition sessions, with no qualifying heats. Apart from a few sprint semi-finals, every race will be a straight final. No repechage, no second chance.

African stars already in the field

Among the 26 athletes who qualify automatically as reigning Olympic champions, several big African names have confirmed they will take part:

• Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), two-time Olympic champion and multiple world champion over 1500m, the undisputed benchmark in middle-distance running.

• Beatrice Chebet (Kenya), Olympic champion over 5000m, currently at the top of her discipline.

• Letsile Tebogo (Botswana), a prodigy of world sprinting and reigning Olympic 200m champion.

• Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Kenya), Olympic 800m champion.

Read also: The Africans expected to shine in the Diamond League

These athletes will face other qualifiers coming through the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, the 2026 Diamond League finals and the season's best performances. It is worth noting that the number of representatives per country will not be capped, a first at this level.

An intense format and major financial rewards

The new Ultimate Championship format is designed to be spectacular and compact: three three-hour competition sessions, with no downtime and finals only. The programme will feature the headline events in sprinting, middle-distance, hurdles, jumps and throws, as well as two mixed relays (4x100m and 4x400m).

The new event comes with prize money unprecedented in the history of athletics: $10 million will be shared among the participants, with a bonus of $150,000 for each individual event winner. The winning teams in the mixed relays will receive $80,000.

Worldwide broadcast planned

The event will receive wide media coverage, with World Athletics stating its intention to offer free international broadcasting, both on television channels and online. The partnership with Tata Communications and HBS, as host broadcaster, will guarantee premium production of the pictures.

With this initiative, World Athletics aims to turn the Ultimate Championships into an unmissable fixture on the global calendar, capable of rivalling the Olympic Games and the traditional World Championships. For Africa, which already has several headline names committed, the new format offers another shop window to assert its leadership on the track.

Malick BAMBA