Could this be the defining moment for the future of track and field?
The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship action finally launches on Friday night at the spectacular Gyla Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre – known by locals as Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ – after a spectacular “The Day Before” gathering on Thursday that featured, among others, Jamaica’s retired sprints legend Usain Bolt as special guest.
The Ultimate Championship is World Athletics’ latest drive at innovation with the global track and field governing body’s President Seb Coe at the forefront in breathing more life into the Olympic programme’s most popular sport.
Budapest has provided the hub for such athlete-centric innovation that included an athletes’ red carpet, unbridled athlete sessions with accredited media and influencers alongside the first ever lane draft in which athletes got to pick their running lanes in the 200 metres.
Also on the programme was a Kids’ Athletics Ultimate Challenge spearheaded by Botswana’s 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo and USA’s triple world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
The grass inside the Gyla Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre track has been painted entirely black with only active competition areas lit up to ensure maximum visual focus remains entirely on the competing athletes. (Photo / World Athletics)
Highlights of this innovative weekend of athletics include:
Visual & Stadium Makeover:
Black Grass Infield: The grass inside the Gyla Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre track has been painted entirely black with only active competition areas lit up to ensure maximum visual focus remains entirely on the competing athletes.
Glowing Implements: Javelins and hammers are fitted with glowing tips and sensors, making them easily trackable through the air for television audiences and stadium spectators. Japan’s TDK Corporation will provide a 'TDK Smart Javelin' – a javelin equipped with TDK sensors – to visualise performance data.
Broadcast & Tech Upgrades:
Real-Time Probabilities: Powered by proprietary technology from Japan’s Sony Corporation, the broadcast uses live data to display win percentages and expected finishing positions changing in real-time as a race unfolds.
Advanced Optical Visualization: A new, immersive tracking format recreates tight sprint finishes via digital augmented reality overlays.
Top athletes from around the world will throw a 'TDK smart javelin' equipped with TDK sensors at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest. (Photo / TDK)
Competition & Athlete Experience:
The Lane Draft: Eliminating random computer assignments, athletes in the 200m sprint on Thursday chose their own semi-final heat and lane based on their World Ranking order.
No Medals, Only Trophies: The traditional podium and medals have been removed. Instead, every participating athlete receives a unique token, which the single Ultimate Champion slots into a specially waiting trophy at the finish line.
Condensed, No-Overlap Schedule: Traditional morning sessions are gone. The event is packed into three-hour evening windows where disciplines happen one by one with almost no overlaps.
"The Day Before" Gala: Pre-event press conferences were replaced with an open, athlete-forward red-carpet media day to let competitors showcase personal style and outfits. This happened on Thursday at the competition venue.
Bar-room, Coffee-house Discussions
World Athletics President Seb Coe said his organization was moving to make the sport more exciting to the athletes and that the innovations will be carried into future World Championships and Olympic Games.
“We’ve created a stage that I genuinely think our best athletes will respond to. They’re here in Budapest to solve those bar-room, coffee-house discussions: who’s the best? Nobody goes into sport to figure out who’s second best. They go in wanting to know who the best is,” the Briton, himself a middle-distance running legend, said.
Former sprinter Usain Bolt poses for a photo as he arrives ahead of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at National Athletics Centre on Thursday in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/World Athletics via Getty Images)
Gábor Pósfai, Hungary’s Minister of the Interior, said the innovations will help draw younger fans to the sport: “I think this new format is a great mix of tradition and innovation. One of the big questions is how we can reach young people and develop innovative models. I believe that with this format we can break down some barriers and reach new people.”
Ultimate Championship ambassador, Jamaican legend Bolt, is also excited about track and field’s innovative trajectory: “It’s great to see track and field going in a different direction, something more exciting. This is going to be great, to see the best of the best. I’ve always lived to compete against the best, so I would thrive in this moment.”
Red Carpet, Media One-on-Ones
At the red-carpet, athletes paraded past accredited media and influencers - who flashed their cameras away and took videos and video and Glambot shots – before engaging in hour-long, one-on-one sessions with the journalists.
And the athletes loved it!
“Showing people that I love and enjoy what I'm doing, just be myself, wear nice jewellery, show up with a different hairstyle, do different things once I'm at track like dancing and show that I'm happy doing this. I want to be that guy who is going to bring people to the sport because they're going to be curious about it,” said Alison Dos Santos, Brazil’s 400m hurdles world record holder who showed up on the red carpet with, bizarrely, South Africa’s “Bafana Bafana” football jersey rather than the famous ‘Selecao’ yellow and green.
Miler Timothy Cheruiyot (left) and sprinter Boniface Mweresa on the cat walk at the Gyla Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre on Thursday. (Photo / Elias Makori / Pura Vida Sports Africa)
Kenya’s javelin star Julius Yego, 400m sprinter Boniface Mweresa, 1,500m new kid Phanuel Koech, Olympic and Diamond League 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and miler Timothy Cheruiyot are among the athletes that strutted their stuff on the catwalk.
South Africa’s sprints veteran Akani Simbine led other African athletes on the red carpet at the three hour ‘The Day Before’ session that proved extremely popular with the accredited journalists.
Dutch 800m record holder and two-time world 400m hurdles champion said she felt “awkward” on the red carpet: “I felt awkward on the red carpet but I think it's very fun and very nice for athletes who also love this part of life and sport. The Ultimate Championship seems very promising. It's cool that you get to race against the best once again. It's a good idea to use the world rankings for selection too and I'm very excited to be here. We'll see this weekend how it will be.”
Alison Dos Santos of Team Brazil poses for a photo as he arrives ahead of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at National Athletics Centre on Thursday in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/World Athletics via Getty Images)
American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks looped dapper in a suit and sunglasses on the red-carpet, certainly enjoying every moment. “I really enjoyed the whole presentation especially the red-carpet entrance,” the soldier said.
“It gives the competition a different feeling and makes it feel like a major show not just another athletics meeting. I have competed against the very best guys in the world for many years so I appreciate when an event also creates this kind of atmosphere around the athletes.”
Home Star’s Triple Treat
Home star Boglárka Takács will be featuring in three events – the women’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m mixed relay. She certainly loves the atmosphere in her home city.
“Being part of an event like this and competing in front of a home crowd is a kind of a sweet burden so to speak. As for the races, you can't really prepare for them in just one day but we've had the whole year for that," she said.
Dutch 800m record holder and two-time world 400m hurdles champion said she felt “awkward” on the red carpet. (Photo / Elias Makori / Pura Vida Sports Africa)
Reflecting on the red-carpet innovation, she added: "I usually like having more time to think everything through, choose my outfit and make sure everything works together. This time I didn’t really have much time because I only got home from the Netherlands at 11pm last night. So, this morning I was trying to put together something that was elegant but still reflected who I am off the track.
“I usually wear skirts and generally go for more elegant and feminine clothes when I’m not in my running gear. At the same time, I didn’t want to overdo it or come here in something too extravagant. I was trying to find a good balance between the two - something I feel comfortable in, but that still fits into a sporting environment.”
The pre-event activities on Friday included a pre-show featuring Usain Bolt and DJ Lili Regan paving way to the competition’s Day One start at 7pm, local time (8pm Kenyan time).
Armand "Mondo" Duplantis of Team Sweden arrives on the red carpet ahead of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at National Athletics Centre on Thursday in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo / Maja Hitij / World Athletics via Getty Images)
