The World Athletics Ultimate Championships are set to launch for the first time, with the event scheduled for September 11-13 in Budapest, Hungary.

The Ultimate Championship aims to yield the best athletes in the world with specific qualifying criteria pre-set for 2026.

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The invitation criteria to participate include; athletes must be a champion from the 2024 Olympic Games, the 2025 World Athletics Championships, a winner from the 2026 Diamond League Final and/or hold World Ranking position in an event that is set to feature in the Ultimate Championships.

The ranking period started on September 2, 2025 and runs through September 1, 2026.

There are no explicit entry/qualification standards. Athletes who do not meet those guidelines will only be able to earn selection through a host member federation or World Athletics exception invite.

Events And Target Numbers Per Event

• 100m - 16 Spots
• 200m - 16 Spots
• 400m - 16 Spots
• 800m - 16 Spots
• 1500m - 12 Spots
• 5000m - 12 Spots
• 100mH, 110mH, 400mH - 16 Spots
• HJ, PV, LJ, TJ (Women), JT, HT (Men) - 8 Spots
• 4x100m and 4x400m Mixed Relays - 8 Teams

Notably, there are not limits set on how many athletes that each federation can send. So in theory, Team USA could occupy more than four slots in a given event.

No athletes under age 16 can be entered, while athletes under age 18 can only participate in non-throwing events.

Invitation Criteria - Per World Athletics

• Automatic Invitations For
  • Olympic Champion From Paris 2024
  • World Champion From Tokyo 2025
  • Winner of the 2026 Diamond League Final
• Invitations based on World Ranking position determined during ranking period.
• World Athletics will keep an updated list of eligible athletes for each event in the lead up to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship called the "Road To The Ultimate"
• Following the end of the ranking period, based on the entry numbers for each event and considered ONLY the pre-entered athletes, World Athletics will confirm the automatic invitations and athletes will subsequently be invited based on their World Rankings.
• If an athletes participating in the Diamond League Final has not already been invited based on their World Ranking, then the last entry in the events featured in the Ultimate Championships will be pending on the outcome of the Diamond League Final.
• For Relay Events:
  • The six placed relay teams at the World Athletics Relays 2026 and the best two ranked teams at the end of the qualification period will fill the remaining spots. The qualification period begins on August 22.

Host Member Federation Invites

• Invites will not impact the defined Target Numbers.

Exceptional Invitation

• World Athletics reserves the rights to provide an entry to an athlete who for whatever reason has not qualified for the Championship. This athlete would be within the above defined target numbers. These invitations are limited to one per event. These will be allocated by August 17, 2025.

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