The newly established Ultimate Championship, which offers huge prize money to the top track and field athletes, begins tonight in Budapest.
Miltos Tentoglou and Emmanouil Karalis have earned a spot among the 381 invited guests—representatives from 65 countries—at this major sporting event.
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Karalis ranks fifth in the World Athletics world rankings
Another triumph for Milto: Tentoglou Wins the Ultimate Championship
“Manolo” will be the first to compete tonight, with his event starting at 9:08 p.m., facing Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault, while Tentoglou will follow on Saturday at 8:44 p.m. in the long jump.
In addition to the two pole vault stars, Americans Zach Bradford, Sam Kendricks, and Chris Nielsen will also compete, Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen, Australia’s Curtis Marshall, and France’s Baptiste Thierry—the only one with a personal best under 6.00.
In the long jump, Tentoglou will have the opportunity to get his revenge on Jamaican Tajay Gayle, who caught him off guard with his final jump in the Diamond League final in Brussels. This was only the second time during the 2026 outdoor track season that Tentoglou did not emerge as the winner of a meet. Also competing in the long jump at the Ultimate Championship are Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, Portugal’s Gerson Balde, Uzbek Anvar Anvarov, Chinese Mingun Zhang, and Serbian Luka Boskovic.
World Athletics is distributing a total of $10 million in prize money to the men and women competing in the 28 events. Each “absolute champion” will receive a check for $150,000 (€129,000), more than double the amount for a world title ($70,000) and three times the amount for a world record ($50,000). Those who place second will receive $75,000 and third-place finishers $40,000, while the last-place finishers (16th) will receive $2,000. Everyone will receive a unique commemorative bracelet engraved with their name, and the winners will receive an exceptionally elegant trophy. Here is a breakdown of the prize money in dollars:
Place Individual Team Events
1 150,000 80,000
2 75,000 40,000
3 40,000 24,000
4 25,000 20,000
5 16,000 16,000
6 14,000 14,000
7 12,000 10,000
8 10,000 8,000
9 9,000
10 8,000
11 7,000
12 6,000
13 5,000
14 4,000
15 3,000
16 2,000
*Photo source: AP
