Archive · 12 Sep 2026
Ingebrigtsen Returns With 5,000m Win at Ultimate Championship
Jakob Ingebrigtsen came back to racing after having surgery on his Achilles tendon.
He won the 5,000-metre race by running past the other athletes near the finish.
His winning time was less than 13 minutes.
He also won $150,000 for finishing first.
Mondo Duplantis won the pole vault by clearing 6.20 metres.
He tried three times to break the world record but did not clear 6.32 metres.
The new championship has a large prize fund and uses a different format from traditional championships.
More than 20,000 people watched the first night in Budapest.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men’s 5,000m in 12:59.24 after returning from Achilles surgery.
Ingebrigtsen used a late surge to pass his rivals in the final 100 metres and earned $150,000.
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis won the pole vault at 6.20m but missed three attempts at a 6.32m world record.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Merlin Hummel and American hurdlers Masai Russell and Ja’Kobe Tharp also won events.
The inaugural championship offered a $10 million prize pot and opened before a sold-out crowd of 20,557 in Budapest.
- Who
- Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men’s 5,000m; Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis also won his event.
- What
- Ingebrigtsen won the 5,000m in 12:59.24, while Duplantis won the pole vault at 6.20m but missed a world-record attempt.
- When
- On the opening night of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship; the articles identify the day as Friday but give no calendar date.
- Where
- The Gyula Zsivótzky National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
- Why
- World Athletics introduced the championship to attract new fans through a high-stakes format and a $10 million prize pot.
- Ingebrigtsen’s time
- 12 minutes 59.24 seconds, a season’s best
- Ingebrigtsen’s prize
- $150,000
- Duplantis’s winning vault
- 6.20 metres
- World-record attempt
- Duplantis missed three attempts at 6.32 metres
- Total prize pot
- $10 million
- Opening-night attendance
- 20,557 fans
- 5,000m runner-up
- Cole Hocker in 13:00.05
- 5,000m third place
- Parker Wolfe in 13:00.13