Scandinavian champions Armand Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen secured victories on the opening day of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, sports reports by AFP and Al Jazeera confirmed. Competing for an event prize purse of $10 million, both athletes earned $150,000 checks by dominating the men’s pole vault and 5,000 meters respectively.
Olympic champion Duplantis cleared 6.20 meters to take the pole vault crown ahead of Greek competitor Emmanouil Karalis.
Norway’s Ingebrigtsen continued a competitive recovery following Achilles surgery, posting a winning time of 12:59.24 in the 5,000 meters to outpace American world champion Cole Hocker. The performance marked only the second sub-13-minute 5,000 meters of Ingebrigtsen’s career, following his European title defense in Birmingham earlier this summer. The Norwegian runner stated that returning from severe tendon injury required gradual rebuilding across recent European events to restore championship racing form.
United States athletes swept the short hurdle competitions across the opening session. Masai Russell took the women’s 100-meter hurdles title in 12.22 seconds ahead of Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, while compatriot Ja’Kobe Tharp edged Cordell Tinch by one-hundredth of a second to claim the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 12.94 seconds. The opening title of the evening went to the United States quartet in the 4x100-meter mixed relay, clocking 39.64 seconds to finish ahead of Jamaica and Great Britain.
In the field events, Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 1.99 meters to secure the women’s high jump title over Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers. Germany’s Merlin Hummel won the men’s hammer throw with an 81.46-meter mark, while Italy’s Larissa Iapichino took the women’s long jump title with a leap of 6.90 meters.
