2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championships - National Athletics Centre, Budapest, Hungary - September 10, 2026 Former runner Usain Bolt during a press conference ahead of the championship REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo Purchase Licensing Rights

Had the World Athletics Ultimate Championship existed in his prime, Usain Bolt says he would have been first in line to compete, drawn not only by the chance to race the world’s best but also ​by the richest prize pot in the sport’s history.

“I was having a conversation with Asafa (former world record-holder ‌Powell). We were actually talking about that same thing,” Bolt said on Thursday. “We’re like, ‘jeez, we missed out with this cash prize.'”

Winners of individual events pocket $150,000, while the winning relay teams share $80,000, meaning a sprinter contesting the 100, 200 and mixed 4×100 metres relay could leave Budapest with ​a tidy sum.

“I won a few championships, and it still doesn’t add up to all the cash, so ​it’s big,” said Bolt, the 100m and 200m world record-holder. “It’s good for the sport, it incentivises ⁠athletes to do their best. Sorry I missed out on it.”

Bolt’s comments strike at the heart of World Athletics’ latest ​experiment. Seeking to attract younger audiences and keep pace in an increasingly crowded sports market, the governing body has launched the ​event as a high-stakes showcase built around elite head-to-head competition, big prize money and a faster, more engaging presentation.

“We’re really spotlighting the stars and creating new formats,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.

STREAMLINED SCHEDULE

The governing body has introduced a streamlined schedule designed to eliminate downtime, along with ​innovations including a black infield with theatrical lighting.

“We want this championship to be an incubator for change,” Coe said. “It’s an ​event that has been created with and by the fans, with and by the athletes.”

Organisers also rolled out a red-carpet event on Thursday ‌to ⁠put athletes front and centre, part of a broader effort to showcase personalities beyond performances and help fans connect with the sport’s stars.

Reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles wore a rhinestone-studded black velvet Yves Saint Laurent suit. At the same time, pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis, who also wrote and performed the event’s anthem entitled “Gold,” went for a more understated blue suit and shades.

“You ​don’t want to miss it. ​Something big could always happen ⁠when I step out on the track or anybody,” said Duplantis. “It’s going to be athletics displayed in a way that’s never been seen before.”

One question hanging over the competition has been ​whether athletes need another major meet in a year that would traditionally have been ​free of a ⁠World Championships or Olympic Games.

“If you follow my career, you know that’s what I’m about — competing against the best,” Bolt said. “With the Ultimate Championship, you know that 16 people who show up are the best in the world, I would look at it as ⁠big ​as the Olympics and the World Championships for sure.”

For 2008 Olympic 100m hurdles ​champion Dawn Harper-Nelson, who is a celebrity broadcaster for the event, the stakes extend beyond prize money and presentation.