MAURICE Wilson, who has served as the technical leader for several Jamaican senior national teams to major global championships, thinks the proposed World Athletics Ultimate Championship, set to start in 2026, could enhance the sport.

The Ultimate Championship is set to start at the end of the 2026 track and field season, with the first staging in Budapest, Hungary. It is to be held every two years and will involve the world’s top track and field athletes, based on rankings, over three afternoon sessions.

World Athletics, which made the announcement on their website on Monday, said there would be a US$10-million ($1.5-billion) pool, with winners of each event getting US$150,000 ($23 million).

Wilson, who is also principal of G C Foster College Physical Education and Sport and head coach of Sprintec Track Club, said the advantages are many but it is the athletes who stand to benefit most.

“Track and field athletes are grossly underpaid,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Monday. “With the exception of maybe five per cent of all track and field athletes, any additional compensation would be a plus.”

Wilson also said that with the events open to a limited number of the world’s best athletes, it reinforces that performance is what counts at the professional level.

World Athletics said only the top eight or 16 individuals or relay teams would be invited to the competition that will see each session lasting under three hours.

“With the fields being narrowed down to only the very best, this will improve spectator interest — and this will be a big difference,” Wilson noted.

Ian Forbes, a world-rated track and field official and first vice-president of Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), was in agreement with Wilson and added that the format of the event could also “attract new fans and also new participants to the sport”.

Forbes said, “As long as the athletes were benefiting, it has to be positive,” and pointed out that a lot of careers are short-lived and that this would allow them to earn more.

The announcement was made on Monday via a release on the World Athletics website which described the venture as “a groundbreaking, new global championship event set to transform the athletics calendar and define which athlete is the best of the best — pitting world champions, Olympic champions, the Wanda Diamond League winners, and the year’s best-performing athletes against each other to crown the ultimate champion”.

The three-day event is set to be held September 11-13, 2026.

“The Ultimate Championship will showcase the best of athletics — including sprints, middle and long-distance races, relays, jumps, and throws — ensuring a spectacle that both existing and new fans will not want to miss. Athletes will represent their national teams to ensure that individual success is underpinned by national pride,” the organisers said.

The competition is targeted at the top eight to 16 athletes in each event, based on world rankings, and about 400 athletes from some 70 countries are expected to compete. Track events will be held over two rounds, semis and finals while field events will be straight finals.

In endorsing the event, World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe was quoted as saying, “With only the best of the best on show and cutting straight to semi-finals and finals, we will create an immediate pressure to perform for athletes aiming to claim the title of the ultimate champion. The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be high on action and excitement for fans, setting a new standard for track and field events. Featuring athletics’ biggest stars, it will be a must-watch global sports event and means track and field will host a major global championship in every single year, ensuring for the first time that athletics will enjoy a moment of maximum audience reach on an annual basis.”