World Athletics announce new biennial global championship
World Athletics has announced a new biennial global championship to serve as a grand finale to the 2026 season, with a record $10 million prize purse and Budapest as the first host city.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be held every two years, with gold medal winners receiving $150,000 as part of what the sport's world governing body claims is the sport's richest prize pot to date.
The event is consistent with World Athletics' desire to remain relevant and keep up with the interests of a younger viewing audience.
"It absolutely sits at the epicentre of what we're trying to do," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told reporters in a video call from Budapest.
"We're trying to remain interesting. We're trying to create new formats that keep our sport at the top of people's consciousness."
"Our sport is in very, very good shape. This is the time to keep the pedal flat to the floor."
The inaugural championships will be held over three evenings, September 11-13, with each session lasting less than three hours, in order to provide a fast-paced event that will captivate global television viewers.
The three-hour time slots, however, mean that not every discipline will be represented, with longer events such as race walks likely to be left out.
"Going forward, there are innovations out there, there are disciplines we're looking at, the 4x100 metres mixed relay, but only if they road test well," said Coe, who announced on Friday that the mixed relay and a steeplechase mile will be tested.
"I can tell you is that all those marquee events that you would expect to be in there will be in there."
The meet will feature eight to sixteen of the world's top-ranked athletes in each discipline, with selections based primarily on world rankings. 400 athletes from approximately 70 countries are expected to compete.
The prize money is good news for top athletes.
In April, World Athletics announced that it would award prize money to Olympic gold medalists in Paris this year, breaking with a 128-year Games tradition. Other international sports federations harshly criticised the move.
"Let me be absolutely blunt here," Coe said. "I am elected to do what I think is in the best interests of the sport. This is not done on a wing and a prayer. And I am elected to represent my sport in the Olympic movement, not the Olympic movement in my sport."
Coe stated that he is aware of the importance of free to air, despite complaints that the Diamond League in the United States, which is currently covered by NBC, will only be available on the pay channel FloTrack beginning in 2025.
"It is really important that people get to see this," Coe said.
The traditional world athletics championships take place every two years. The 2023 event was held in Budapest, and the next one will take place in Tokyo in 2025.
SportsLigue