Ultimate Championship – the major global event of the year, which is a mix of championship and gala.
When?
11–13 September.
Where?
At the Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary
Which ones?
Participants include world champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners, the year's highest ranked and special invitees.
Two Swedish athletes are participating. Armand Duplantis has qualified via several categories and the pole vaulter is also an ambassador for the competition. The Swedish star has also made the competition's own signature melody, the song "Gold".
400 meter hurdler Oskar Edlund has qualified via ranking. Even Andreas Almgren could have run, but at 5,000 meters, a distance that does not fit in his preparation for the WC in the half marathon.
Branches that are missing
The competition differs from a WC in athletics in several ways. When everything has to be done in one weekend, several things have been compressed. The fact that each branch has few participants creates an exclusivity, but also enables the removal of qualifiers and trial races. The athletes also have fewer attempts, in the long jump and javelin, for example: All eight jump/throw twice, the best six advance to round 3 and only the then best four get a fourth attempt.
In addition, not all branches are included in the program. The running disciplines that are missing (compared to last year's WC) are 10,000 meters, marathon and 3,000 meter hurdles, as well as both long and short relays for women and men.
In the technical and throwing disciplines, the discus and shot put are completely missing. Therefore, for example, Swedish athletes such as Daniel Ståhl, Vanessa Kamga, Wictor Petersson and Fanny Roos are not included. Sledgehammer is missing for ladies but is included as a men's branch; the reverse is true for three-step.
Nor are any walking distances or all-round events determined.
However, a branch has been added. In the last WC, 4x400 meters were run in mixed teams. That relay is also included now, but also 4x100 meter mixed.
Then the Swedes compete
● Friday 11 September 20.08 – the pole vault men's final, with Armand Duplantis, starts.
● Saturday 12 September 19.57 – semi-final 400 meter hurdles, with Oskar Edlund, will be decided.
● Sunday 13 September 18.36 – final 400 meter hurdles, possibly with Edlund.
You can find the entire program here.
Price?
The competition is the most prized so far in athletics with 150,000 dollars (about 1.4 million kroner) to each individual winner. The total prize pool is 10 million dollars.
No medals are awarded as only one in each discipline is honoured. All participants will indeed receive a personalized bracelet in a golden metal, but only the winners will be able to combine their bracelet with their stone trophy.
The choice of the stars
Karsten Warholm opted out of last weekend's Diamond League final - to bet against the competition in Budapest. The Norwegian 400 meter hurdler felt that the organizer in Brussels had not come up with a competitive bid.
- That event is said to be the most profitable of all the events in the calendar. You then have to ask yourself if it is right that they make that profit at the expense of us athletes, he told NRK.
The 800-meter runner Keely Hodgkinson also chose to withdraw, but with the explanation that her body had not recovered sufficiently from the EC. Nor did 100-meter star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden run in Brussels.
Duplanti's ultimate choice
Several of the big stars have had to answer a series of quick questions on the competition's website on the theme "what is your ultimate...?".
Among other things, we learn that Armand Duplantis ranks the European Championship gold in Berlin 2018 as his best performance and that the biggest career goal is to win a Grammy.
Also that the pole vaulter considers toast Skagen to be the ultimate dish and Liseberg in Gothenburg the ultimate destination. He prefers to relax in the music studio or on the golf course, but when it comes to competing, Stockholm's stadium is the best and "Rebel's Kick It" by NBA Youngboy is the best song to warm up to.
"Good Will Hunting," we're told, is the ultimate movie, but Duplantis doesn't share his own hidden talent: "I'd rather it stay hidden."
