World Athletics Ultimate Championship: How did inaugural event go?

Budapest hosted the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship over three sell-out evenings, and the early signs suggest the concept will stick. The event’s record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot was shared by athletics’ biggest stars, with a celebratory atmosphere underscored by the official song performance by Armand Duplantis and fireworks above the newly crowned winners. World Athletics and president Lord Coe spent three years addressing the lack of a season-ending pinnacle meet by introducing a more experimental format. Athletes and figures including Usain Bolt and Imani-Lara Lansiquot praised the “different energy” and the fact it lived up to expectations.