The first World Athletics Ultimate Championship, the biggest track and field meet of 2026, airs live on NBC Sports and Peacock from Friday through Sunday in Budapest.
The biennial World Ultimate Championship gathers Olympic gold medalists, world champions and the top athletes in the world rankings with no limits on athletes per country.
World Ultimate Championship live broadcast schedule
| Day | Time (ET) | Key Finals | Platforms |
| Friday | 1-4 p.m. | 100m Hurdles, 110m Hurdles | Peacock, NBCSN |
| Saturday | 12-3 p.m. | 100m, 400m | Peacock, NBCSN |
| Sunday | 12-3 p.m. | 200m, 400m Hurdles | NBC, Peacock |
The full event-by-event daily schedule is here.
The three-day meet features eight to 16 athletes per individual event, all representing their countries in their national uniforms.
Track events 800m and shorter will have semifinals and finals. Longer track events and all field events will have strictly finals.
World Ultimate Championship athlete entry lists
The full entry lists are here.
Here are 10 standout events and their headline athletes:
Mixed 4x100m Relay (Friday, 1:08 p.m. ET): USA, Jamaica, Canada, Great Britain among nations in an event that makes its Olympic debut in 2028. The relay order is man-woman-man-woman.
Women’s High Jump (Friday, 1:13 p.m.): Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine, 2024 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder), Nicola Olyslagers (Australia, 2025 World champion)
Mahuchikh, once dominant in this event, has been beaten in her last three meets. She last was beaten in four in a row in 2019, according to Tilastopaja.org, when she was 17 years old.
Men’s Pole Vault (Friday, 2:08 p.m.): Mondo Duplantis (Sweden, two-time Olympic gold medalist), Manolo Karalis (Greece, No. 2 all-time behind Duplantis), Sam Kendricks (USA, 2024 Olympic silver medalist)
Duplantis had a win streak of nearly three years and more than 30 meets snapped in June. Last Friday, he withdrew before the Diamond League Final due to tightness and irritation in his leg. He won the last nine global championships (Olympics, world outdoors, world indoors) dating to 2021.
Women’s 100m Hurdles (final Friday, 3:20 p.m.): Masai Russell (USA, 2024 Olympic gold medalist, world record holder), Tobi Amusan (Nigeria, second-fastest woman in history), Keni Harrison (USA, fourth-fastest woman in history)
Russell is on a 12-meet win streak since placing fourth at the 2025 World Championships, the longest in the event at the top level since Australian Sally Pearson won 13 in a row in 2010 and 2011, according to Tilastopaja.
Women’s 800m (final Saturday, 2:18 p.m.): Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Audrey Werro (Switzerland, third-fastest woman in history), Femke Broeders-Bol (Netherlands, second-fastest woman in history in 400m hurdles)
Werro, 22, was the 33rd-fastest woman in history as of June 6. Since, she has run the third-, fourth- and fifth-fastest times in history, all of which are the fastest in the last 43 years.
Women’s 100m (final Saturday, 2:38 p.m.): Julien Alfred (St. Lucia, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA, 2025 World champion), Sha’Carri Richardson (USA, 2023 World champion)
Jefferson-Wooden won 11 consecutive 100m finals since taking bronze at the Paris Olympics, then was beaten by five thousandths of a second by Alfred (personal best 10.70) in her most recent race on Aug. 27.
Men’s 400m Hurdles (final Sunday, 12:36 p.m.): Rai Benjamin (USA, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Karsten Warholm (Norway, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist), Alison dos Santos (Brazil, world record holder)
Dos Santos, Warholm and Benjamin combine to own the 35 fastest times in history in the event, with dos Santos snatching the world record from Warholm on Aug. 27. Before they came along, American Kevin Young held the world record for nearly three decades from the 1992 Olympics.
Men’s 1500m (Sunday, 2:10 p.m.): Cole Hocker (USA, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist), Josh Kerr (Great Britain, 2024 Olympic silver medalist), Yared Nuguse (USA, 2024 Olympic bronze medalist)
A different man won each of the last six global outdoor championships (Olympics/worlds), and all of them are entered here.
Men’s 200m (final Sunday, 2:38 p.m.): Letsile Tebogo (Botswana, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Kenny Bednarek (USA, 2024 Olympic silver medalist), Andre De Grasse (Canada, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist)
Bednarek is the fastest man in the world this year and can grab the biggest individual race win of his career at age 27 here or in the 100m on Saturday. Four-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles is out injured.
Women’s 200m (final Sunday, 2:49 p.m.): Gabby Thomas (USA, 2024 Olympic gold medalist), Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (2025 World champion), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas, two-time Olympic 400m gold medalist)
Thomas, whose personal best is 21.60, missed the 2025 Worlds due to an Achilles’ injury. Among the women in this field, Jefferson-Wooden has the world’s best time of 2026 (21.69), one hundredth better than Thomas.
