Inaugural Ultimate Championship includes nine Arkansas alums

BUDAPEST – Nine Arkansas alums are entered in the inaugural staging of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship which will be held at Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre in Hungary from September 11-13.

Airing on NBC and Peacock, televised times for the weekend include noon to 3 p.m. (CT) on Friday (NBC Sports Network, Peacock), with 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (CT) windows for Saturday (NBC Sports Network, Peacock) and Sunday (NBC, Peacock).

With the richest prize pot ever in the history of the sport, $10 million will be up for grabs. Each individual event winner will pocket $150,000 with the runner-up earning $75,000 and the third-place finisher getting a $40,000 payday. In the mixed relay events, the victorious team will share a pot of $80,000.

The opening day of the three-day meet will include 400m semifinal races for Chris Bailey and Nickisha Pryce, an 800m semifinal for Shafiqua Maloney, as well as a semifinal and final in the 100m hurdles for Ackera Nugent.

Saturday will include a potential of five finals for Arkansas alums with the men’s and women’s 400m, followed by the women’s pole vault that includes Sandi Morris and Tina Šutej, then a women’s 1,500m final with Nikki Hiltz, and the women’s 800m final with Maloney.

Sunday concludes with Romaine Beckford in the men’s high jump along with Paris Peoples and Pryce being part of the mixed 4 x 400m relay.

At the recent Diamond League final held in Brussels, Belgium, last weekend, Bailey produced a career best of 43.97 to place fourth in the 400m and improved upon his previous best of 44.06. Pryce finished third in the women’s 400m with a 49.36 performance.

Maloney recently won an 800m race in Brescia, Italy, in 1:58.03 while Nugent won a 100m hurdles race in a season’s best of 12.56 in Serbia.

In the recent Diamond League final, Šutej placed third in the pole vault with a clearance of 15-5 (4.70). Morris tied for third with a height of 15-7 (4.75) in the Zurich Diamond League meet with the pole vault held inside a train station and then finished second in Bellizona, Switzerland, with a 15-3.75 (4.67) clearance.

Hiltz recently produced a season best of 3:56.87 to place fifth in the 1,500m at the Diamond League final. Beckford finished fifth in the high jump at the Diamond League final with a 7-3 (2.21) height. In July, Beckford claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games with a 7-4.5 (2.25) clearance and then cleared 7-6 (2.29) as runner-up at a Diamond League meet in Poland.

Peoples earned a pair of gold medals this season as part of United States 4 x 400m relays at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in March and World Athletics Relays in May. Peoples ran second leg on the mixed 4 x 400m relay that won in a world-leading 3:07.47 at the World Relays held in Gaborone, Botswana.

2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship

Entries – Men (2)

Entries – Women (7)

Schedule (Times listed for U.S. CT & Hungary)

Friday, September 11

Saturday, September 12

Sunday, September 13