World Athletics launches richest competition ever, 3-day championship will have US$10 million prize fund

World Athletics has launched a new three-day global championship starting in 2026 in Budapest to attempt to ensure track and field has a global audience in the years between world championships.

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will take place every two years, with the first on September 11 to 13, 2026.

Gold medallists are set to receive US$150,000 (HK$1.17 million) each from an overall prize fund of US$10 million, the largest prize pot in the history of the sport.

The event will be held every two years – in other words, in the years between outdoor world championships which are also biennial, with the next taking place in Tokyo in 2025.

On Monday, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the timing of the Ultimate Championship would “ensure for the first time that athletics will enjoy a moment of maximum audience reach on an annual basis”.

“We want to make sure that we have the famous billion eyeballs that watch our world championships and Olympic Games,” Coe said in a conference call with international reporters.

“We have to have every year in that four-year cycle that coalescence of fans on television and secondly it is really important that we extend the season as much as we can at both ends. We need the athletes out there as often as they can.”