Mawdsley misses out on 400m final, Duplantis and Ingebrigtsen shine at Ultimate Championship

IRELAND’S SHARLENE MAWDSLEY missed out on progression to the 400m final at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

The returning Mawdsley finished seventh in her semi-final in 51.28 seconds, with just the top four progressing to Saturday’s final.

With a record $10 million (€8.59 million) purse on offer across the weekend, individual winners pocket $150,000 (€129,300) with each competitor enjoying a pay day.

Mawdsley earned $4,000 (€3,450) after finishing 14th of the 16 athletes in 400m action.

The Tipperary woman continues her comeback from a recent hamstring injury, having made a winning return in Italy on Tuesday, clocking 50.58 seconds.

Recent European medallists Mark English and Rhasidat Adeleke are the other Irish athletes in action at the new invitational. English races for the first time since his 800m gold in Birmingham last month, at 5.34pm on Saturday. Adeleke takes to the track for the 200m semi-finals from 5.44pm on Sunday.

Seasoned Scandinavian campaigners Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen shone on the opening day, walking away with $150,000 (€129,300) each for winning the men’s pole vault and 5,000m respectively.

Pitched as a season-ending championship to bring together the best of the best, including 26 Olympic champions from the 2024 Paris Games, 26 world champions from Tokyo last year and 25 Diamond League winners from the 2026 season, the opening eight finals more than lived up to the hype.

US-born Swede Duplantis cleared 6.20 metres for victory ahead of Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis, while Norway’s Ingebrigtsen continued his comeback from injury with a stunning win in the 5,000m in 12:59.24, just the second time in his career he has gone sub-13min.

Advertisement

“It was a really fun competition tonight. It was a little bit chilly, but I had a great time,” said Duplantis.

Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen, who will also race the 1,500m, produced a devastating sprint down the home straight for victory over world champion Cole Hocker of the US (13:00.05).

“I haven’t run too many 5,000m races this season, but it’s always good to be back competing,” said Ingebrigtsen, who won his fourth successive European 5,000m title in Birmingham last month in what was his first race of the year following achilles surgery.

“There was a lot of hope and eventually I got my momentum going. I have gained a lot from the races I’ve done in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“Being injured I was fearing the worst outcome and did not know if I would be able to run at all, especially at this level.

“This victory is truly amazing.”

- Russell, Tharp victorious -

Two of this season’s world record holders, Masai Russell and Ja’Kobe Tharp, duly won their short hurdles races.

Russell, fresh from running a pace-setting 12.09 in Brussels, reeled in the 100m hurdles field after a sluggish start for victory in 12.22 ahead of Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, in 12.34.

Russell’s US teammate Tharp, who set a world record of 12.75 in June, edged world champion Cordell Tinch by one-hundredth of a second for 110m hurdles victory in 12.94.

The first title of the first night of action went to the United States in the 4x100m mixed relay, giving them a shared pot of $80,000.

The quartet of Ronnie Baker, Anavia Battle, Courtney Lindsey and Kayla White clocked 39.64sec ahead of world record holders Jamaica (39.72) and Britain (40.26) rounding out the podium.

“It’s really exciting to be the first ever Ultimate champions!” said Baker.

Germany’s world silver medallist Merlin Hummel was the surprise winner of the men’s hammer throw, with the infield painted black.

His best of 81.46m was enough to set himself up as a clear victor over Hungary’s European champion Bence Halasz (80.30).

Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion Ethan Katzberg of Canada missed out on a podium after two opening no-marks that saw him promptly eliminated from the competition.

The field in the women’s high jump was quickly narrowed down to a showdown between Ukraine’s world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Australian Nicola Olyslagers.

Olympic champion Mahuchikh cleared 1.99m for the win, while world champion Olyslagers could only manage 1.95m in the chilly conditions.

Italy’s Larissa Iapichino wrapped up the women’s long jump with a best of 6.90m.

– © AFP 2026, additional reporting by Emma Duffy