Leading South African athletes will compete for medals and a share of the largest prize fund in athletics history at the debut 'Ultimate Championship' World Athletics Championships, which takes place in Budapest this weekend.
The Main Championship
The three-day sporting event, scheduled from Friday to Sunday, will offer an astonishing $10 million (approximately 159.4 million rand) in prize money. Furthermore, each individual champion is guaranteed $150,000 (about 2.39 million rand).
This amount is 2.5 times higher than the maximum of $60,000 (about 956,000 rand) that individual winners can receive at the Diamond League Finals. It should be noted that the entire 2026 Diamond League season has a total prize fund of $9.24 million (about 147.2 million rand).
For qualified South African athletes, this presents an exceptional opportunity to conclude a memorable season. Sinisipho Dambile competes in the new championship as the country's main hope for winning medals after securing silver at the Diamond League Finals in Brussels on Saturday.
The 24-year-old athlete clocked a time of 19.89 seconds, trailing American Kenny Bednarek's 19.62 seconds, and previously led the Diamond League rankings in the 200-meter distance.
This result was the culmination of a successful campaign in which Dambile also won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, set a personal best of 19.74, and ran faster than 20 seconds multiple times. His triumph at the Commonwealth Games was particularly significant as he became the first South African man to win the 200-meter title at the Commonwealth Games, and his time of 19.74 placed him second in the country's all-time list behind Clarence Munyai.
If Dambile replicates his performance at the Diamond League Finals, the silver in Budapest will be worth approximately 1.2 million rand. Even sixth place in this two-year competition will yield over 200,000 rand.
Dambile will not be the only one with high expectations at the season's finale. Akani Simbine and Gift Lesothlo will compete in the 100 meters, while Zakiti Nene will compete in the 400 meters. Prudence Sekgodiso will participate in the women's 800-meter race, and Marion Fourie is also among the qualified South Africans in the women's 100-meter hurdles.
Nene, who ranked third in the Diamond League standings in the 400 meters, has already designated Budapest as one of the main goals of his season.
The Main Championship
The event is designed to bring together Olympic and world champions, Diamond League winners, and leading athletes of the year. Invitations are distributed based on a combination of achievements in championships and the Diamond League, world rankings, and other qualification criteria.
The new format means that athletes have little time to adapt to the competition. The 'Ultimate Championship' is conceived as a compact showdown between the best performers of 2026, offering another high-risk opportunity at the end of an already intense season.
For Dambile, this opportunity comes after possibly the most brilliant campaign of his career. For Nene, Simbine, Lesothlo, Sekgodiso, and Fourie, it is a chance to turn a season of strong performances into a historic achievement. And since every individual champion awaits 2.39 million rand, the stakes in Budapest are as high as possible in athletics.
After Dambile's silver secured South Africa's only medal at the Diamond League Finals, the country hopes that the new championship can provide an even larger monetary prize and, more importantly, the first 'Ultimate' Champion.