Jefferson-Wooden, Bednarek complete Ultimate Championship sprint doubles

Published On 13 Sep 202613 Sep 2026.

Key points

• In the 100m, Jefferson-Wooden's time of 10.62s held off Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74s) and compatriot Sha'Carri Richardson (10.76s).
• The American clocked 52.45s to edge out Slovakia's Emma Zapletalova (52.68s) and compatriot, world leader, and favourite Anna Cockrell (53.09s).
• This person settled for third behind Canada's Marco Arop (1: 42.28) in a stunning finish.
• Earlier on Sunday, Jasmine Jones opened the final day of competition with a shakeup in the women's 400m hurdles.
• Reigning javelin king Rumesh Pathirage introduced a monstrous 91.09m final throw for the win to continue his unbeaten streak this season.

Americans Kenneth Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden have asserted the sprint double to close off an action-packed weekend in Budapest that saw elite track and field athletes crowned inaugural Ultimate Champions and pocket $150, 000 in prize capital.

Bednarek stormed to victory in a 19.52s world lead – the season's best performance globally – ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (19.76s) and American Courtney Lindsey (19.79s) as Jamaican sprint legend and Ultimate Champion ambassador Usain Bolt offered his nod of approval from the stands on Sunday.

In practice, a day earlier, Bednarek finally emerged from the shadow of compatriot sprinter Noah Lyles to claim the 100m crown in 9.85s and edge out world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica (9.90s) and USA's Ronnie Baker (9.93s).

It was a repeat of the Tokyo World Championship double for Jefferson-Wooden, whose 21.47s world lead time created her the third-fastest woman in 200m history as she eased past compatriots Gabrielle Thomas, the Olympic champion (21.77s) and Kayla White (21.93s).

In the 100m, Jefferson-Wooden's time of 10.62s held off Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74s) and compatriot Sha'Carri Richardson (10.76s). This person clinched her world title in the same stadium three years ago.

Meanwhile, the American clocked 52.45s to edge out Slovakia's Emma Zapletalova (52.68s) and compatriot, world leader, and favourite Anna Cockrell (53.09s). This person settled for third after an almost unbeaten season. Teammate Dalilah Muhammad graciously retired from track and field with a fourth-place season's best of 53.11s.

While world champion Keshorn Walcott was disappointed with yet another fourth-place finish (82.41m), the Sri Lankan's throw proved too much for Grenada's Anderson Peters (86.18m) and third-place Julian Weber of Germany (85.89m).

Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi literally soared to new heights with a 2.37m clearance that amazed the crowd – and himself – well after USA's JuVaughn Harrison jumped 2.30m for second in the men's high jump and Mexico's Erick Portillo cleared 2.26m for third.

Josh Kerr of Great Britain kept the 1500m win predictable (3: 29.35) after Algeria's Djamel Sedjati (1: 41.91) flipped the script on 800m world and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1: 42.44). This person settled for third behind Canada's Marco Arop (1: 42.28) in a stunning finish.

Ethiopia's Likina Amebaw dominated to claim the women's 5, 000m (14: 30.36) while Saly Sarr of Senegal (15.06m) stole the triple jump spotlight from world leader Thea Lafond (14.47m) after the Dominican failed to perform in the Hungarian capital.

Although close friend and rival Emmanouil Karalis of Greece continued to close the gap between world number one and two with 6.15m for second, crowd favourite Mondo Duplantis opened the show on Friday with a casual 6.20m jump to reign supreme in the men's pole vault.

Over on the women's side, it was an emotional win for USA's Sandi Morris when she cleared 4.90m for her first global outdoor title.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen shifted gears to dominate the men's 5, 000m in a comeback like never before (12: 59.24), leaving USA's Cole Hocker (13: 00.05) and Parker Wolfe (13: 00.13) in his trail.

Notably, the Americans predictably dominated the hurdles as Masai Russell clocked 12.22s in the women's 100m hurdles to cap off an unbeaten season while Diamond League champion Ja'Kobe Tharp dazzled with 12.94s in the men's 110m hurdles.

Other predictable wins came from Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men's long jump (8.35m), Switzerland's Audrey Werro in the women's 800m (1: 55.88), Brazil's Alison dos Santos in the men's 400m hurdles (45.98s), Dominican Marileidy Paulino in the women's 400m (49.07s) and male counterpart Collen Kebinatshipi with a 43.39s Botswana national record.

Meanwhile, a cozy, unbothered Yaroslava Mahuchikh rested in her sleeping bag in between jumps that saw her add another high jump title to her collection at 1.99m ahead of Nicola Olyslagers of Australia.

While Chinese teen sensation Yan Ziyi retired hurt but asserted her first silver of the season with 68.05m, meanwhile, the women's javelin saw a clash of old and new as Japan's Haruka Kitaguchi set a national record (68.92m) en route to reclaiming the throne.

While Germany's Merlin Hummel maintained a shock win in the men's hammer throw after world and Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg simply could not perform on the day, larissa Iapichino of Italy asserted the long jump crown (6.90m) just hours after her grandmother died.

For now, jefferson-Wooden, Bednarek complete Ultimate Championship sprint doubles remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.