Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
World Athletics has unveiled competition innovations and technical regulations for the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, scheduled for 11-13 September in Budapest, Hungary. A key change in the men’s and women’s 200m events is that athletes will now select their preferred semifinal heat and lane in world rankings seed order the day before the competition. This shifts from traditional anonymous lane allocation to an athlete-centered process, encouraging pre-competition analysis and discussion.
In vertical jump events, there will be no ties for first place; any tie will be resolved by a jump-off, reflecting the Ultimate Championship’s goal to identify a single winner.
For other field events excluding vertical jumps, the competition will progress across four rounds with an 8:8:6:4 format: all eight athletes receive attempts in the first two rounds, six highest ranked after round two advance to round three, and the top four from round three proceed to the final round.
In vertical jumps, attempt orders will start with the lowest seeded athlete and end with the highest. In horizontal jumps and throws, the first round will follow seed order with the highest seed first, while subsequent rounds will order attempts based on current standings, highest ranked competing first. Technical regulations on athlete recovery times will be enforced.
Another significant change is the removal of the jury of appeal. Athletes can still make immediate oral protests on the field to the referee and submit written protests to the technical information centre within 30 minutes of official results.
These innovations build on previous updates to enhance broadcasts, incorporating fan feedback, augmented reality, athlete headshots, win probabilities, and other visual elements for improved viewer engagement.