A bright pink sandpit and a pitch black infield. A brand new trophy and historic prize money.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship is posed as something different in the sport, but some things stay the same – pole vault star Armand Duplantis taking centre stage.
As the inaugural competition’s official song, which two-time Olympic champion Duplantis wrote and recorded, was played to a sell-out crowd of more than 20,000, all eyes fell on the Swedish 26-year-old as, yet again, it was just him against the world record.
Duplantis had already secured the title of inaugural Ultimate champion in the event he has long dominated, and his $150,000 (£110,000) slice of the record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer.
While he was unable to clear 6.32m and set the 16th world record of his remarkable career, an entertaining battle with Greek challenger Emmanouil Karalis had provided the blockbuster finale to the opening night of action in Budapest.
The condensed three-day format of the Ultimate Championship will see the world’s best athletes go head-to-head across an innovative format which governing body World Athletics and its president Lord Coe hope can shape the sport’s future.
Friday’s upbeat curtain-raising session featured eight finals over three hours and brought victories for several global stars including Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Masai Russell.
Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, Georgia Hunter Bell, Amy Hunt and Matthew Hudson-Smith will be among those hoping to land the sport’s newest global prize on Saturday.
A window into the future?
As win percentages flashed up on screen, and sparklers lit up the dark backdrop as athletes posed with their trophies, athletics attempted to take its first steps in a brand new direction.
On Thursday, the world’s top athletes had arrived for the championship at a red carpet event. On Friday, they emerged to light shows and dramatic music.
The appearance of the arena was immediately striking, with an infield painted black with the intention of directing the audience’s focus to the illuminated live action.
On TV, augmented reality was used to display athlete headshots, win probabilities and projected finishing positions for each event.
For their crowning moment, athletes lifted their trophy from a plinth beside their competition area before heading to a winners’ enclosure in the stands where they joined the likes of Usain Bolt and Noah Lyles.
The first to lift a trophy inside the stadium which hosted the World Championships three years ago was the United States’ mixed 4x100m relay quartet, who shared $80,000 (£59,000) between them after winning in 39.64 seconds.
Great Britain’s Romell Glave, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Jeremiah Azu and Success Eduan finished third, behind Jamaica, in 40.26.
Jazmin Sawyers went close to producing a sensational end to the women’s long jump – but she was still delighted to finish second at the end of a season which has brought Commonwealth gold and European silver.
The 32-year-old only returned from a devastating Achilles rupture on her take off leg last year but has quickly returned to career-best form and finished with a 6.78m leap.
“I really enjoyed it. I felt like I had a bit more in me but this competition was always a bonus for me,” said Sawyers.
“I never thought I’d be here. I never thought, based on the first half of the season that I had, that I would be able to make top eight in the world.”
Hodgkinson marked her return to action for the first time since taking silver at the European Championship by winning her 800m semi-final and qualifying fastest for Saturday’s showdown with rivals Audrey Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol.
Hodgkinson, who took the decision to miss the Diamond League Final to allow her body to recover from her efforts in chasing Werro in Birmingham, claimed a comfortable victory in one minute 57.57 seconds.
Werro, who has run three of the five fastest times in history this season, and the fast-improving Broeders-Bol both safely progressed from the other semi-final in first and second respectively.
Hudson-Smith will contest the men’s 400m final after placing second in his semi-final in 44.79 secs, behind fast-finishing American Jacory Patterson, as Botswana’s world champion Collen Kebinatshipi set the fastest time overall in 44.23.
But GB’s Yemi Mary John narrowly missed out on the women’s final after finishing fifth, with the top four going through.
Ingebrigtsen prepared for his eagerly-anticipated reunion with Great Britain’s Josh Kerr in Sunday’s 1500m by taking another impressive 5,000m victory.
One month after marking his return from long-term injury by winning the European 5,000m title, the Norwegian waited until the home straight before surging clear to win in 12:59.24, ahead of American Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker.
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