Three days of top class

Written by Rainer Ackermann

‘The best of the best will compete in the 2026 World Athletics Final in Budapest.’

This was announced by the President of the World Athletics Association (WA), Sebastian Coe, at a press conference in Budapest on Friday. The National Athletics Centre, the venue for the 2023 World Athletics Championships, will host competitions in over two dozen disciplines from 11-13 September 2026.

Coe spoke of prize money totalling 10 million dollars. Budapest had ‘organised the best World Championships ever’, which was one of the reasons for awarding the new competition to the Hungarian capital for the first time. 400 athletes from around 70 countries will be invited to compete against each other in preliminary rounds and finals. The winners of the individual disciplines will each receive 150,000 US dollars. The WA wants as many spectators as possible in the stands, who will be able to experience three-hour sports programmes on each of the three days.