Ireland scored a 3-0 victory over Israel in a politically-charged UEFA Nations League match played in Hungary. The game went ahead despite calls for a boycott with the Irish players wearing black armbands in support of the people of Gaza.
Published On 28 Sep 202628 Sep 2026
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The Americans won both the 100m and 200m at the Ultimate Championship that saw elite athletes win $150,000 each.
Americans Kenneth Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden have claimed the sprint double to close off an action-packed weekend in Budapest that saw elite track and field athletes crowned inaugural Ultimate Champions and pocket $150,000 in prize money.
Bednarek stormed to victory in a 19.52s world lead – the season’s best performance globally – ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (19.76s) and American Courtney Lindsey (19.79s) as Jamaican sprint legend and Ultimate Champion ambassador Usain Bolt gave his nod of approval from the stands on Sunday.
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A day earlier, Bednarek finally emerged from the shadow of compatriot sprinter Noah Lyles to claim the 100m crown in 9.85s and edge out world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica (9.90s) and USA’s Ronnie Baker (9.93s).
It was a repeat of the Tokyo World Championship double for Jefferson-Wooden, whose 21.47s world lead time made her the third-fastest woman in 200m history as she eased past compatriots Gabrielle Thomas, the Olympic champion (21.77s) and Kayla White (21.93s).
In the 100m, Jefferson-Wooden’s time of 10.62s held off Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74s) and compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson (10.76s), who clinched her world title in the same stadium three years ago.
Earlier on Sunday, Jasmine Jones opened the final day of competition with a shakeup in the women’s 400m hurdles.
The American clocked 52.45s to edge out Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova (52.68s) and compatriot, world leader, and favourite Anna Cockrell (53.09s), who settled for third after an almost unbeaten season. Teammate Dalilah Muhammad graciously retired from track and field with a fourth-place season’s best of 53.11s.
Reigning javelin king Rumesh Pathirage launched a monstrous 91.09m final throw for the win to continue his unbeaten streak this season.
The Sri Lankan’s throw proved too much for Grenada’s Anderson Peters (86.18m) and third-place Julian Weber of Germany (85.89m), while world champion Keshorn Walcott was disappointed with yet another fourth-place finish (82.41m).
Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi literally soared to new heights with a 2.37m clearance that amazed the crowd – and himself – well after USA’s JuVaughn Harrison jumped 2.30m for second in the men’s high jump and Mexico’s Erick Portillo cleared 2.26m for third.
Josh Kerr of Great Britain kept the 1500m win predictable (3:29.35) after Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati (1:41.91) flipped the script on 800m world and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:42.44), who settled for third behind Canada’s Marco Arop (1:42.28) in a stunning finish.
Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw dominated to claim the women’s 5,000m (14:30.36) while Saly Sarr of Senegal (15.06m) stole the triple jump spotlight from world leader Thea Lafond (14.47m) after the Dominican failed to perform in the Hungarian capital.
Crowd favourite Mondo Duplantis opened the show on Friday with a casual 6.20m jump to reign supreme in the men’s pole vault, although close friend and rival Emmanouil Karalis of Greece continued to close the gap between world number one and two with 6.15m for second.
Over on the women’s side, it was an emotional win for USA’s Sandi Morris when she cleared 4.90m for her first global outdoor title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen shifted gears to dominate the men’s 5,000m in a comeback like never before (12:59.24), leaving USA’s Cole Hocker (13:00.05) and Parker Wolfe (13:00.13) in his trail.
The Americans predictably dominated the hurdles as Masai Russell clocked 12.22s in the women’s 100m hurdles to cap off an unbeaten season while Diamond League champion Ja’Kobe Tharp dazzled with 12.94s in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Other predictable wins came from Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men’s long jump (8.35m), Switzerland’s Audrey Werro in the women’s 800m (1:55.88), Brazil’s Alison dos Santos in the men’s 400m hurdles (45.98s), Dominican Marileidy Paulino in the women’s 400m (49.07s) and male counterpart Collen Kebinatshipi with a 43.39s Botswana national record.
A cozy, unbothered Yaroslava Mahuchikh rested in her sleeping bag in between jumps that saw her add another high jump title to her collection at 1.99m ahead of Nicola Olyslagers of Australia.
Meanwhile, the women’s javelin saw a clash of old and new as Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi set a national record (68.92m) en route to reclaiming the throne, while Chinese teen sensation Yan Ziyi retired hurt but claimed her first silver of the season with 68.05m.
Larissa Iapichino of Italy claimed the long jump crown (6.90m) just hours after her grandmother died, while Germany’s Merlin Hummel claimed a shock win in the men’s hammer throw after world and Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg simply could not perform on the day.
Published On 11 Sep 202611 Sep 2026
The “best of the best” in athletics are preparing to compete in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship that gets under way in Budapest this weekend.
The three-day competition will see 26 Olympic champions from Paris, 26 world champions from Tokyo last year, and this season’s top athletes battle it out to be crowned the best in track and field.
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Many return to the stomping ground in the Hungarian capital after successes at the 2023 World Championships, while others have racked up global titles after breakout performances throughout the year.
Here’s Al Jazeera’s all-to-know guide to the meet:
The Ultimate Championship is an invite-only competition featuring the Olympic gold medallist, World Championship gold medallist, Diamond League winners, and the best performers of 2026 based on the World Rankings qualification system.
It runs from September 11-13 in Budapest and will become a biennial feature in World Athletics’ calendar. The sport’s global governing body chose 2026 to launch the event in between the World Championships, and, in Olympic years, use it to round out a highly competitive season.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, an ambassador for the event, said it was “great to see track and field going in a different direction”.
“It’s going to be great to see the best of the best,” the eight-time Olympic gold medallist said at a news conference on Thursday before the event.
“This was one of my greatest things. I’ve always lived to compete against the best and I would thrive in this moment.”
The $10m prize pot will see winners of each event bag a record $150,000.
That’s more than double the $70,000 given at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, and three times what was awarded by World Athletics to Olympic champions in Paris. Second place takes home $75,000, third place $40,000, all the way to $2,000 for 16th-place finishers.
Relay teams will split $80,000 among themselves, followed by $40,000 and $24,000 for second and third place, respectively.
The Ultimate Champion also walks away with global “bragging rights”, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said before the event as he explained its significance to the sport.
For one, there are no medals. It’s part of World Athletics’ “reimagining of awards” that replaces the traditional accolade with a customised trophy for the Ultimate Champions based on individual tokens.
All events will be direct semifinals or finals rather than starting off as heats. Athletes competing in the men’s and women’s 200m will select their preferred semifinal heat and lane based on their seed order.
A tie for first place in a vertical jump will be decided by a jump-off rather than be shared, while athletes in throwing events will have four attempts down from the typical six, that too in the 8:8:6:4 model.
The mixed 4×100-metre relay will feature in Budapest after its debut at the World Relays earlier this year, with each quartet competing in national kits.
A number of events have been excluded from the Ultimate Championship, including shot put, triple jump, women’s hammer throw, and discus throw, as well as long-distance track events like 3,000-metre steeplechase and 10,000-metre.
World Athletics said its decision was based on viewership and priority for faster-paced events.
Olympic discus champion Matthew Denny and former world champion and two-time triple jump champion Pedro Pichardo were among the athletes who lamented the decision on social media.
Denny, current world number two, explained that the prize money “can change a career and a life” and implored World Athletics to reconsider its stance on public interest driven by its own statistics.
“Innovation should not come at the expense of opportunity.”
These athletes are already the creme de la creme in their field and are most likely to set a world record, based on this year’s performance: