The World Athletics is taking changing the conditions of track and field seriously this time! After years of mounting troubles that athletes and the sport faced, World Athletics has decided to launch a brand new competition format! They are launching the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, which will debut in 2026! The event is set up to be an unmissable spectacle with 28 events across three nights. But that’s not the highlight! The Championships have a $10 million prize pool. The Gold medalist in each race will win $150,000 each. Talk about motivation!

The event is set to take place at the National Athletics Centre, the same place that hosted the 2023 World Athletics Championships. However, in the Ultimate Championships, Budapest will see 400 athletes from 70 countries compete. The buzz? It’s all about consistency. With major events lined up all the way to 2028, track athletes now have a championship to look forward to every year. This will help them stay in form leading up to LA 2028. But despite the step being great for the sport, not everybody is happy about it. There are chinks in the ultimate armor that stings athletes!

Alaysha Johnson is frustrated over World Athletics’ facade of improvement!

Now, on paper, the World Athletics Ultimate Championships seems like the boost that track and field needed. It is not the complete reality. Alaysha Johnson, the 100m hurdle champion at the 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, went on to talk about the chinks in the World Athletics armor. And she did not mince her words!

The World Athletics, along with prizes and races, announced a new mixed 4x100m relay event. Instead of focusing on relays like the shuttle hurdle relay—one of the most exciting events—World Athletics opted for the mixed relay and Alaysha’s response. She took it to X and wrote, “Track and field athletes: We want a shuttle hurdle relay againnnnn. Track and field: MIXED 4X1 IT IS!! 😭😭😭 @WNBA, please, do y’all have any space?! Cheerleading?! Softball?! ANYBODY.” Ouch!

It is clear that Alaysha is feeling the heat of the decision. But why is Mixed Relay being included over relays or other events? Well, the philosophy behind World Athletics Ultimate Championships as per the World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon, is absolute entertainment. As Joe himself puts it, “The mixed 4x100m relay is just one example of how we want to do this event differently. We think it will be a great success because the mixed 4x400m has been great fun.” So why was it introduced?

Well, turns out there’s a growing love for the mixed relays. The mixed 4x100m relay was a big success in the last two seasons of the Olympics. Additionally, even the Diamond League will be trialing the race during next year’s league. So, for an event built on, “The core philosophy of the event is it’s the best of the best,” the decision to cut events seems like a not-so-great one.  Yes, but one thing is for sure: they will be able to draw a lot of viewers! However, making things worse, shuttle hurdle relays are not the only thing missing from the list of events!

Shuttle hurdle relay is not the only race missing from the 2026 list!

The 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championships is bidding adieu to some classic events. This includes men’s triple jump, women’s hammer, 10,000m races, shotput, and even steeplechase. But why? The format of the event is such. It will happen over three days, with each day packed into three hours of nonstop entertainment.  This means only the high-octane events are making the cut. Joe Ridgeon had an answer.

As Joe sees it, “If you are going to create a new product, you have to decide on the philosophy of that product, and all the advice we got is it needs to be fast-moving and time-limited, so there sadly isn’t time to do a heptathlon or decathlon.” Meanwhile, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe explained that the new format aims to create a “festival of sport”! Yet, the removal of some events is sad, especially considering the massive prize pool. Still, this change aims to optimize the track and bring excitement. The question is, will it be enough to make up for what’s missing?