Armand Duplantis wins inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship title in Budapest

A bright pink sandpit and a pitch black infield. A brand new trophy and historic prize money.

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship is posed as something different in the sport, but some things stay the same - pole vault star Armand Duplantis taking centre stage.

As the inaugural competition's official song, which two-time Olympic champion Duplantis wrote and recorded, was played to a sell-out crowd of more than 20,000, all eyes fell on the Swedish 26-year-old as, yet again, it was just him against the world record.

Duplantis had already secured the title of inaugural Ultimate champion in the event he has long dominated, and his $150,000 (£110,000) slice of the record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer.

While he was unable to clear 6.32m and set the 16th world record of his remarkable career, an entertaining battle with Greek challenger Emmanouil Karalis had provided the blockbuster finale to the opening night of action in Budapest.

The condensed three-day format of the Ultimate Championship will see the world's best athletes go head-to-head across an innovative format which governing body World Athletics and its president Lord Coe hope can shape the sport's future.

Friday's upbeat curtain-raising session featured eight finals over three hours and brought victories for several global stars including Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Masai Russell.

Great Britain's Keely Hodgkinson, Georgia Hunter Bell, Amy Hunt and Matthew Hudson-Smith will be among those hoping to land the sport's newest global prize on Saturday.

As win percentages flashed up on screen, and sparklers lit up the dark backdrop as athletes posed with their trophies, athletics attempted to take its first steps in a brand new direction.

On Thursday, the world's top athletes had arrived for the championship at a red carpet event. On Friday, they emerged to light shows and dramatic music.

The appearance of the arena was immediately striking, with an infield painted black with the intention of directing the audience's focus to the illuminated live action.

On TV, augmented reality was used to display athlete headshots, win probabilities and projected finishing positions for each event.

For their crowning moment, athletes lifted their trophy from a plinth beside their competition area before heading to a winners' enclosure in the stands where they joined the likes of Usain Bolt and Noah Lyles.

The first to lift a trophy inside the stadium which hosted the World Championships three years ago was the United States' mixed 4x100m relay quartet, who shared $80,000 (£59,000) between them after winning in 39.64 seconds.

Great Britain's Romell Glave, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Jeremiah Azu and Success Eduan finished third, behind Jamaica, in 40.26.

Jazmin Sawyers went close to producing a sensational end to the women's long jump - but she was still delighted to finish second at the end of a season which has brought Commonwealth gold and European silver.

The 32-year-old only returned from a devastating Achilles rupture on her take off leg last year but has quickly returned to career-best form and finished with a 6.78m leap.

"I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a bit more in me but this competition was always a bonus for me," said Sawyers.

"I never thought I'd be here. I never thought, based on the first half of the season that I had, that I would be able to make top eight in the world."