Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The 2026 Gyulai István Memorial, also known as the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix, is set to be one of the strongest editions of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Budapest. The event will take place at the National Athletics Centre, which hosted the 2023 World Athletics Championships and will host the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in September.
Swedish pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis will compete again at the venue where he set a world record of 6.29m at a previous Gyulai Memorial. Duplantis has since improved his world record to 6.31m and recently won the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco with a 6.07m vault. He will be joined by top challengers including Emmanouil Karalis, who holds the second-best pole vault mark in history at 6.17m, and Kurtis Marschall, the latest athlete to have defeated Duplantis at the Diamond League in Stockholm.
The field also features other six-metre pole vaulters such as Sondre Guttormsen, Sam Kendricks, and Ernest John Obiena. Australian pole vault star Nina Kennedy, Olympic champion and recent Oceanian record holder with a 4.95m clearance, will headline the women's event. New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney, along with Imogen Ayris and Tina Šutej, are also set to compete.
Greece’s two-time Olympic long jump champion Miltiádis Tentóglou, who recorded an 8.61m jump in Monaco, will face rivals including Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock and Tajay Gayle. Other global stars such as Julien Alfred and Masai Russell are also expected to compete as part of the event’s marquee lineup.