Dos Santos Blazes to 45.98 as Jefferson-Wooden and Bednarek Seal Sprint Doubles in Budapest

Posted by: Watch Athletics

Monday, 14 September 2026

Alison dos Santos stormed to the men’s 400m hurdles title in 45.98, while Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek completed spectacular sprint doubles on the final night of the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest. Jefferson-Wooden’s stunning 21.47 moved her to third on the women’s 200m all-time list, Bednarek set a world-leading 19.52, and Gianmarco Tamberi delivered a season-leading 2.37m clearance as the inaugural championships concluded with a string of outstanding performances at the National Athletics Centre.

Men’s 400m hurdles final

World record-holder Alison dos Santos won the men’s 400m hurdles in 45.98, the third-fastest time in history, in a race featuring three sub-47-second performances. The Brazilian broke 46 seconds for the second time in his career, two weeks after lowering Karsten Warholm’s world record to 45.80 at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich.

The Budapest final brought together the three fastest hurdlers of all time. Olympic champion Rai Benjamin finished second in a season-best 46.40 in just his third 400m hurdles race of the season. Benjamin claimed his second runner-up finish at the Ultimate Championships after taking second place in the flat 400m.

European champion Karsten Warholm secured third place in 46.78. Emil Agyekum finished fourth, improving his German record to 47.10.

Alison dos Santos: “I opened the World Athletics app and I saw a post on the main page saying I had something like a 95% chance of winning. I thought, ‘Wow, that is pretty high,’ so I just wanted to go out there and run as fast as I could. I knew there would be pressure. When you are running on the Diamond League circuit, you are mostly concerned about your time—you think about running fast and staying focused on your lane—but at a championship, it is different. Running fast is important, but winning is more important. I knew everybody would give their best and fight all the way to the line, and I knew coming off the eighth hurdle into the final part of the race it was going to be a real battle.”

Men’s 200m final

Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek completed the sprint double by winning the men’s 200m in a world-leading 19.52, one day after claiming the 100m title. The American added the Ultimate crown to his Diamond League trophy, improving on the 19.62 world lead he had recorded twice in Zurich and Brussels.

Bednarek earned US$150,000 for each of his two victories in Budapest.

Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo finished second in a season-best 19.76. Courtney Lindsey also broke 19.80, setting a season’s best of 19.79 to take third. South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile placed fourth in 19.91, edging 2021 Olympic champion André De Grasse (19.92).

Kenny Bednarek: “Oh my God, it has been a crazy few days. I am just happy to be here, and performance-wise I give myself an A+ because of the couple of things I have been working on—I put them together today and earlier in the week. This whole event has been very nice. On the red carpet, I managed to show a bit of my personality, which is different as I’m usually a more quiet type of person. I loved the lane draw and think we should do it more often. This is a phenomenal event, and I’m happy that it is showing our sport in a different light. This was the year where I focused on making progress. I need to look back at what I did overall, but I believe I did well. Coming home with two wins in Budapest is amazing.”

Men’s 200m semifinals

Kenny Bednarek won the first semifinal in 19.86, edging Courtney Lindsey, who improved his season’s best to 19.89. Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo also dipped under 20 seconds with 19.96, while Nigeria’s Udodi Onwuzurike secured the fourth qualifying spot in 20.16.

Sinesipho Dambile recorded the fastest time of the semifinal round with 19.80. André De Grasse finished second in 19.87, his second-fastest performance of the season. Jamaica’s world bronze medallist Brian Levell took third in 20.08, edging Aaron Brown, who was credited with the same time.

Women’s 200m final

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won the women’s 200m in a sensational 21.47 to complete the sprint double following her 100m victory. The American moved to third on the world all-time list behind Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) and Shericka Jackson (21.41).

Three-time Olympic champion Gabby Thomas finished second in a season-best 21.77. Kayla White, winner of this year’s Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, completed an American sweep in 21.93. Great Britain’s European champion Amy Hunt placed fourth in a season-best 22.10.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden: “I did not see 21.47 coming tonight! I told myself that I need to be smart in the semifinal and save some energy. I knew when I came out of the curve in the semifinal, it would be just enough to qualify for the final. I never thought that people like Usain Bolt would watch my races and even have great reactions to my performances. He said to me earlier this week how proud he is of me for making it seem so easy. I told my husband that whatever happens tonight, it will happen because of him. That’s what the scream was for when I crossed the finish line. I was thinking I could run this fast in maybe two years, but not tonight. I really have no words.”

Women’s 200m semifinals

Gabby Thomas won the first semifinal in 21.88 ahead of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (22.15) and Kayla White (22.28). Switzerland’s Fabienne Hoenke, fourth at the European Championships in Birmingham, secured the fourth qualifying spot in 22.72.

Amy Hunt won the second semifinal in 22.22 ahead of Ashanti Moore, who improved her personal best to 22.30. Cambrea Sturgis finished third in 22.40, followed by Anavia Battle (22.46).

Men’s high jump

Gianmarco Tamberi cleared a world-leading 2.37m to win the men’s high jump, adding another title to his collection after claiming his fourth European gold medal with 2.32m in Birmingham.

The Tokyo Olympic champion cleared 2.22m and 2.26m on his first attempts before needing two attempts at 2.30m. He then cleared 2.33m and 2.35m at the first time of asking and capped a superb competition with another first-attempt clearance at 2.37m, watched by his wife Chiara and daughter Camilla.

Tamberi subsequently made three unsuccessful attempts at an Italian record of 2.41m. JuVaughn Harrison finished second with a third-attempt clearance at 2.30m, recreating the gold-and-silver finish the pair achieved at the 2023 World Championships in the same stadium.

Erick Portillo, the world indoor bronze medallist in Toruń, took third with 2.26m.

“It was already predicted—showtime, you know!” said Tamberi, pointing to his arm during his trackside interview.

Gianmarco Tamberi: “It’s not thanks to me; it’s thanks to the people who are there. My friends, my family—all the people here who support me. You were crazy, guys. It was an amazing night. I came here with great memories from the World Championships in 2023, so I was looking forward to competing here, knowing that it is an amazing place to jump. I started the season probably 14th in the world rankings, so this really was a comeback. My career was very tough because, if I look at the ups and downs, I cannot even say which one was the most difficult to come back from. After I was not able to get to the final in Tokyo last year, people started to say that it was my time to retire—it was difficult to hear and to struggle against all these feelings. Finally, I’m here with 2.37m. Now I can say to everyone: ‘Never stop believing in your dreams; never put a limit on yourself.’”

Men’s 800m final

Djamel Sedjati, the 2025 world silver medallist, won the men’s 800m title in 1:41.91. Marco Arop finished second in 1:42.28 on the track where he won the world title in 2023.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi claimed third in 1:42.44, edging Brandon Miller (1:42.54). Francesco Pernici smashed his Italian record with 1:42.61 in fifth place, while European champion Mark English finished sixth in a personal best of 1:42.78.

Djamel Sedjati: “That was very tactical but also very fast, and I am really happy to have won this race today. This is the first title for me, so I’m incredibly happy and grateful to everyone who supported me.”

Women’s triple jump

Senegal’s Saly Sarr capped a dream season by winning the women’s triple jump with 15.06m (+0.3m/s), adding the Ultimate title one week after her Diamond League Final victory in Brussels. Sarr backed up her winning mark with 14.92m in the third round and 14.83m in the fourth.

Cuba’s Davisleydi Velazco also surpassed 15 metres, jumping 15.04m in the third round to finish second. Her compatriot Leyanis Pérez Hernández took third with a second-round 14.90m, ahead of Olympic champion Thea LaFond (14.47m).

Saly Sarr: “It really means a lot to win and become the Ultimate champion. I am really happy, really emotional and truly satisfied. We will keep working, keep winning and prepare ourselves for other goals in the future. There are no holidays; it’s just back to work.”

Men’s 1500m final

Josh Kerr won the men’s 1500m in 3:29.35, holding off this year’s Diamond League champion Cameron Myers, who also broke 3:30 with 3:29.68. Kerr capped an outstanding season in which he won the Commonwealth title in Glasgow and broke Hicham El Guerrouj’s world mile record.

Hobbs Kessler of the United States completed the top three in 3:30.73, edging Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker (3:30.74) in a close battle for third.

Kerr also lowered his Hungarian all-comers’ record, set when he won the world title in Budapest in 2023, by 0.03.

Josh Kerr: “I didn’t race a lot this season, so I kind of came here fresh and ready to go. Cameron is an awesome athlete. He was pushing a lot, but I managed to look at the screen and see what the gap was.”

Women’s 400m hurdles final

Jasmine Jones, the 2025 world silver medallist, won the women’s 400m hurdles in 52.45, moving to tenth on the world all-time list. Slovakia’s European champion Emma Zapletalová finished second in 52.68.

This year’s Diamond League winner Anna Cockrell secured third in 53.09, holding off former world record-holder Dalilah Muhammad, who finished fourth in 53.11 in the final race of her career.

Jasmine Jones: “This is wild, and I didn’t see that coming. Coming off Dalilah’s last race, she inspired me so much growing up as a 400m hurdler. Having Dalilah and Emma, who has had such a breakout season, alongside me and competing with them in this brand-new championship was so much fun.”

Men’s javelin

Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage capped a successful season by winning the men’s javelin with 91.09m in the fourth round. His series also included the second-best throw of the competition, an 87.11m effort in the third round.

Pathirage added the Ultimate trophy to his Diamond League Final title from Brussels and Commonwealth Games gold from Glasgow. It was the third-best performance of his career, behind his national record of 92.62m in Rome and 92.07m in Zurich.

Grenada’s two-time world champion Anderson Peters finished second with 86.18m ahead of Germany’s European champion Julian Weber, who recorded 85.89m in the second round.

Rumesh Pathirage: “This was my one and only goal—to bring the trophy back to Sri Lanka. I faced a lot of challenges today, but I was still hoping to win, and I’m proud I did it. I was never thinking about the prize money, and I don’t have any idea yet how I will spend it. Sri Lankan athletes have won two Olympic medals so far, and my next goal is to bring the Olympic gold medal home.”

Mixed 4x400m relay

The United States quartet of Chris Bailey, Alexis Holmes, Jacory Patterson and Aaliyah Butler won the mixed 4x400m relay in 3:08.92. Holmes had also anchored the American team to the world title in Budapest in 2023.

Great Britain finished second in 3:09.49, beating the Netherlands by 0.17.

Bailey ran the opening leg in 44.73 before handing over to Holmes, who maintained the lead. Patterson extended the advantage on the third leg, and Butler brought the team home with a 49.47 anchor split.

Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Butler (48.72) and Hungary’s Attila Molnár (43.99) recorded the fastest women’s and men’s splits, respectively.

Alexis Holmes: “The atmosphere with this team was so good. Whenever the USA puts a team together, they put together a group they trust—people with the character to go out there and make it happen—and that is what we had today.”

Women’s 5000m final

Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw won the women’s 5000m in 14:30.36, finishing just over two seconds ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hull, who improved her personal best to 14:32.39.

Fantaye Belayneh took third in 14:32.62 ahead of fellow Ethiopians Freweyni Hailu (14:32.78) and Aleshign Baweke (14:32.95).

Likina Amebaw: “I’m very happy to become the Ultimate champion. I was thinking I do not have too much of a sprint, so halfway through the race I was thinking that I’ve got to push.”