BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - SEPTEMBER 12: Busang Collen Kebinatshipi of Team Botswana crosses the finish line to win the Men's 400 Metres Final during Day 2 of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at National Athletics Centre on September 12, 2026 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Maja Hitij/World Athletics via Getty Images)
Botswana’s Collen Kebinatshipi moved to fifth on the world all-time list with his 43.39 400m victory, while fellow world champion Melisa Jefferson-Wooden clocked a world-leading 10.62 to win a nail-biting 100m showdown against Julien Alfred at the at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest.
World champion Kebinatshipi lived up to his status as the 400m favourite, storming to the title.
Capping a hugely successful season, the 22-year-old improved his national record yet again as he clocked 43.39 to secure sole ownership of fifth place on the world all-time list. The performance saw him extend his record for the most sub-44.00 races in one season to six.
USA’s Rai Benjamin chased him over the finish line in 44.15 and will turn his attention to the 400m hurdles in Budapest, while Jereem Richards was third in 44.23.
Kebinatshipi lined up in Budapest as the Diamond League champion, fresh off his 43.40 performance in Brussels that moved him to joint fifth on the world all-time list. That was his third Diamond League record of the season after those he set in Paris (43.54) and Monaco (43.44).
He improved again in Budapest – judging his race to perfection to dominate ahead of world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Benjamin and Richards, who was runner-up to Kebinatshipi in the Diamond League Final.
After his Diamond League win, Kebinatshipi stated his aim to improve on the world lead of 43.38 set by Samuel Ogazi at the NCAA Championships in June. In order to do that, he said, he could not allow himself to relax during the first part of the race.
Kebinatshipi clearly had that in mind as he blazed out of the blocks, starting aggressively and with intent. He remained well clear of his rivals as he eased off the final bend and looked well on his way to victory.
All eyes were on the clock and he stopped it at 43.39 – the race of his life, just 0.01 off the world lead he sought.
Benjamin moved through the field and edged ahead in the closing stages, completing the first part of his Ultimate 400m and 400m hurdles double in 44.15. Richards – running in lane two, the same lane from which he raced to world silver behind Kebinatshipi in Tokyo last year – finished 0.08 back to secure third place ahead of Chris Bailey (44.27) and Matt Hudson-Smith (44.28).
“I’m proud of myself for hanging on from the start of the season to the end of it and with everything I was able to do this year,” said Kebinatshipi. “I am usually always sitting back and kicking in the last metres but today I wanted to feel what other athletes were feeling over their races, to tie up a bit in the last metres.
“I was really tired over the last metres but that was what I wanted to do and to feel; I wanted to leave everything here before I head back home.”
Jefferson-Wooden stormed to the joint seventh-fastest 100m of all time – 10.62 (-0.2m/s) – to win an epic clash with Julien Alfred.
Jefferson-Wooden, who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at last year’s World Championships, added the inaugural Ultimate crown to her honours, holding off Olympic champion Alfred and the fast-finishing 2023 world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.
Alfred secured the runner-up spot in 10.74, while Richardson was third in 10.76 on her return to the stadium in which she won her world title three years ago.
Prior to the new championship, Jefferson-Wooden had described running 10.61 at the World Championships in Tokyo as her “ultimate performance”. The US 25-year-old was just one hundredth of a second off that mark – a mark that places her fourth on the world all-time list – in Budapest as she ran the fastest time in the world this year.
Jefferson-Wooden and Alfred lined up side by side in the blocks – Saint Lucia’s Alfred in lane five, Jefferson-Wooden in lane four and Jamaica’s world silver medallist Tina Clayton next to her in lane three.
Clayton, fresh off her first Diamond League title win in Brussels, started fast but so did Jefferson-Wooden.
The US sprint star edged ahead and then Alfred passed Clayton, too. USA’s Richardson, next to Alfred in lane six, was also in hot pursuit and she moved into third place, pipping Jamaica’s Jonielle Smith and Clayton who both clocked 10.94 and were separated by one thousandth of a second.
Jefferson-Wooden has now broken 10.70 a total of four times and she owns three of the five fastest performances of the year.
The semifinals earlier in the evening provided a taste of what was to come. Alfred and Jefferson-Wooden both won their races in 10.73 – Alfred easing as she reached the finish line well clear and Jefferson-Wooden holding off Richardson, who was 0.02 behind. Those performances by Alfred and Jefferson-Wooden were separated by just two thousandths of a second, Alfred leading the first round by the narrowest of margins.
“This feels amazing. I crossed the line with a smile on my face because only I know all the things I have done to get to this moment,” said Jefferson-Wooden. “When I got into the blocks today, I just told myself that this is my moment.”
She will return to the track for the 200m on Sunday. “If I could win the double, it would just add to who I actually am,” she said. “I am down to do things that haven’t been done before, I am down for innovation and for challenging myself. Coming here, running four races in two days, it’s something I haven’t ever done before. I feel it is just a testament to what I am inspired to do.”
Audrey Werro capped an undefeated outdoor campaign, winning the highly anticipated women’s 800m final in 1:55.88. In an equally thrilling men’s 100m final, Kenny Bednarek kept his cool to win in 9.85.
The three-way rivalry between Werro, Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol may have been one of the dominant talking points of the 2026 season, but the outcome has essentially been the same in every women’s 800m race. Werro once again underlined that she is the world’s best 800m runner with her victory.
Hodgkinson had started the year as the best in the discipline, setting a world indoor record of 1:54.87 and then winning the world indoor title in a championship record of 1:55.30.
But outdoors was a different story. Starting with the Diamond League meeting in Rabat, Werro put together a string of 800m victories, routinely finishing ahead of Hodgkinson and recent 800m convert Broeders-Bol, the two-time world 400m hurdles champion.
Werro’s sub-1:54 wins in Stockholm, Paris and Zurich has prompted plenty of world record speculation. And rightly so – the Swiss athlete’s best of 1:53.70 is just 0.42 shy of the long-standing mark, and she now owns three of the five fastest times in history.
The race in Budapest, though, was less about records and more about finding the ultimate champion. While Werro started as the pre-race favourite, Broeders-Bol had been closing in on the world leader in their recent clashes. Hodgkinson, meanwhile, was the last athlete to beat Werro.
Werro dictated the pace and led through the first lap in 57.83 with Broeders-Bol close behind and Hodgkinson a stride adrift.
The leading trio bunched up with 200 metres to go, but Werro had saved an extra gear, kicking ahead into the home straight. Hodgkinson, who had skipped the Diamond League Final as a precautionary measure, managed to pass Broeders-Bol in the closing stages.
But neither challenger could catch Werro, who strode through the line in 1:55.88. Hodgkinson finished second in 1:56.26 and Broeders-Bol placed third in 1:56.74, reflecting the same 1-2-3 from the European Championships.
“I’m so happy with the race,” said Werro. “I think I have won every race I’ve had this year during the outdoor season. It is really crazy but, at the same time, it is something I have worked for and now I am getting the result.”
“I’m actually quite proud with how this race turned out,” said Hodgkinson. “I wanted to win and it ended up pretty close. These are some amazing women, and we all push each other.”
Broeders-Bol was also happy with her race, and her year as a whole. “My season is done and now I can say that I really love this event,” she said. “I’ve loved all of this year even more than I expected. This third place means a lot.”
Sandi Morris won her first outdoor global title, taking the women’s pole vault on countback with 4.90m, and Klaudia Kazimierska proved her recent Diamond League win was no fluke, winning the women’s 1500m in 3:57.55.
Elsewhere, Haruka Kitaguchi produced a Japanese record of 68.92m to win the women’s javelin. Marileidy Paulino lived up to expectations to win the women’s 400m in 49.07, while fellow Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou won an incredibly close long jump contest by 1cm with 8.35m.
