Keely Hodgkinson and Josh Kerr will both line up at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, taking place from 11 to 13 September in Budapest. After missing the Diamond League Final in Brussels for different reasons, the two British athletes return for a competition bringing together the best athletes of the season and which will represent the final major meeting of the year.
Hodgkinson and Kerr, two very different returns
Keely Hodgkinson had nevertheless made the perfect start to her season. The Olympic champion notably improved the indoor world record over 800m, before seeing her season take a more difficult turn. The British athlete was beaten by Audrey Werro on several occasions, with the first particularly notable defeat coming in Stockholm in June, where the Swiss athlete ran 1:53.98, the third-fastest time in history over the distance. Hodgkinson nevertheless set a British record of 1:54.33 that day in her comeback race, but the defeat may have come as something of a psychological blow. Her defeat to Werro at the European Championships in Birmingham, where Hodgkinson had to settle for silver in 1:54.91 behind a Swiss athlete who was once again dominant in 1:54.81, confirmed the gradual shift in the 800m hierarchy. But it was primarily her hamstring problem that disrupted the final part of her season. After Birmingham, Hodgkinson missed the meetings in Zurich and then the Diamond League Final in Brussels, where Werro went on to claim the trophy in 1:54.75.
Her return in Budapest will therefore be both an opportunity to face Werro and Femke Broeders-Bol once again and a test of her physical condition. Her coach Trevor Painter confirmed her participation, putting an end to the uncertainty surrounding her involvement. The 800m is therefore once again set to command much of the attention, with the three leading protagonists of the season reunited on the same track.
For Josh Kerr, the trajectory has been far more deliberate. The British athlete had clearly chosen to build his season around two objectives. The first was the Diamond League and an attempt at the world mile record. The second was the return of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he also wanted to target the title over the distance. The plan worked perfectly: on 18 July in London, Kerr ran the mile in 3:42.66, improving the previous world record held by Hicham El Guerrouj, which had stood since 1999, by 47 hundredths of a second. Two weeks later, he won the Commonwealth Games mile in 3:54.12.
This preparation also explains why Kerr has been relatively absent from the circuit this season and was, of course, not in Brussels for the Diamond League Final. Budapest therefore marks his return to the 1500m, a distance he has yet to race this season. He will return to a track that has been particularly favourable to him, having won his first world title there in 2023. A confrontation with Olympic champions Cole Hocker and Jakob Ingebrigtsen would add another dimension to his return, although the latter has raced very little this season.
The United Kingdom will not, however, rely solely on its two headline names. Amy Hunt, fresh from winning four European titles, will compete in both the 100m and 200m. Georgia Hunter Bell, who has already won three major titles this season, will line up in the 1500m, while Matthew Hudson-Smith will contest the 400m. In the 100m, Romell Glave and Jeremiah Azu will also represent the United Kingdom, while Max Burgin and Ben Pattison will line up in the 800m. Jake Wightman will finally join Josh Kerr in the 1500m.
In total, 22 athletes from the United Kingdom feature on the start lists, alongside two mixed relay teams. This inaugural edition of the Ultimate Championship will bring together 381 athletes from 65 federations and offer an especially packed programme, with 28 events and a record $10 million prize fund.
