World Athletics Ultimate Championship
Fans can track the athlete journey to next year's World Athletics Ultimate Championship via the Road to the Ultimate – a dedicated online tool now available on the World Athletics website.
Searchable by discipline and qualification status, the tool provides a real-time view of each discipline over the course of the Ultimate Championship 2026 qualification period – highlighting the athletes who are in line to receive invites for individual events.
The Ultimate Championship will bring together world champions, Olympic champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s best performing athletes in an epic clash of titans. It launches in Budapest in 2026, when the world’s greatest will settle the debate across three intense sessions of action from 11-13 September.
The way individual athletes can earn invites includes by:
- being an Olympic champion from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
- being a world champion from the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25
- winning the 2026 Diamond League Final in Brussels
- their position on the world rankings during the ranking period of 2 September 2025 to 1 September 2026
Competition is set to be fierce – a record-setting prize pot of US$10 million is up for grabs and, as eligible athletes receive a personal invite to participate, there is no cap on how many stars from a country can compete in each individual event.
The Ultimate Championship programme features women’s and men’s competition in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m hurdles/110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole vault, high jump, long jump and javelin throw, as well as the women’s triple jump, men’s hammer throw, and mixed 4x100m and 4x400m.
Each of the three sessions will be stacked with finals. On the track, the two semifinals in certain events will star eight athletes, and only the top four in each will make it through to the final. The 1500m, 5000m and relay races will be straight finals – no second chances.
• Full qualification system conditions and criteria document
