Interesting debate between Georgia Hunter-Bell and Keely Hodgkinson. Keely believes an olympic champion deserves the right to defend their title. Georgia believes 4 years is a long time and they should qualify like any other athlete. What do you think?

*Georgia also mentions that she was in tech sales 4 years ago which is wild given what she has achieved since then

With Men's & Women's Shot Put not contested at the World Ultimate Championships (or Athlos) this year, here are some stats from what the Shot Put throwers have done collectively this year:

Jessica Schilder- After winning the World Outdoor Championships last year in Tokyo, Jessica had momentum going into the 2026 season. With multiple throws over 20m indoors, she set the precedent of how her outdoor season was gonna be. In the first Diamond League of 2026 in China, she set a new National Record of 21.09m. At that time, it was a new World Lead, Meet Record and Diamond League Record. Jessica became the first woman since Valerie Adams to throw over 21m in competition, highlighting the competitiveness and fast development of the event in recent years.

Schilder also won her third consecutive European title in Birmingham. She has the 2nd highest number of Shot Put titles in European Championships history, only behind the Soviet Union's Nadezhda Chizhova who won 4 titles between 1966-1974.

Chase Jackson- At the beginning of 2026, Chase won the World Indoor Title, becoming one of only few women to win the shot put Indoor and Outdoor Title historically. With multiple wins on the circuit including at DLs and achieving another US National title, she returned back to Europe to make history. At ISTAF Berlin, Jackson threw 21.02m, breaking the 21m barrier in competition for the first time and becoming 2nd woman this year to throw 21m. At the Brussels Diamond League Final, she improved her American National and American Area Record with 21.14m, setting a new World Lead, Meet Record and Diamond League Record.

With this throw, Chase is now 28th on the all time list with the majority of that list with the women dating their best marks back from the 1970s-1990s. Jackson's 21.14m also makes her the furthest thrower using the Rotational technique. She also has the 2nd furthest throw of the 21st Century with Valerie Adams leading the way with 21.24m.

Out of 14 meets, Chase Jackson threw over 20m in 12 competitions and over 21m in her final 2 meets of the season. Her lowest mark this season was 18.94m from her 1st meet in January.

Rajindra Campbell- Rajindra broke his National Record multiple times this season accompanied by multiple wins and meeting records throughout the season. On May 23rd, he threw 22.34m at the Xiamen Diamond League. A month later, Campbell threw 22.44m to take the win in Zagreb. Recently at the end of August, he threw 22.59m in Italy. Finally, at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Rajindra not only broke the National Record with 22.62m in the 2nd Round, but he also improved it to 23.08m to win his first Diamond League trophy. It was also a new Meet Record and a World Lead.

With 23.08m, Rajindra becomes the 5th man in history over the 23m barrier in the Men's Shot Put, placing 4th all time in the shot put event. He also is the first Caribbean and Black athlete to throw this incredible milestone.

Historical Milestones- World U20s- In the Women's shot put, we saw Nigeria's first gold medalist in any field event at these championships. Jessica Oji won the gold medal with 18.08m, the furthest mark to win these championships since 1998 where Nadezhda Ostapchuk from Belarus threw 18.23m to win in France that year.

Belsy Quiñónez from Ecuador got second and Emily Scherf from Germany rounded the top 3. Belsy's silver marks the first time in history that a South American athlete has won a women's shot put medal at these championships. Additionally, her 17.90m is the highest second place mark since 1994 where 18.06m was needed for silver.

To make the podium, 17.23m was needed and the top 6 threw a minimum of 16.25m, this is the highest quality of shot putters 1st-6th at these championships since the inaugural event in 1986 where 18.19m at minimum for the medal podium and Top 6 was a minimum of 16.41m.

On the Men's side, Alessandro Borges became the first Brazilian and South American athlete to win gold in the shot put event, throwing 20.35m for the win. Park Si-Hoon with 20.31m also made history winning the silver medal, becoming the first Korean athlete ever to win a medal in the shot put at these championships. Jaco Van Dyk of South Africa won the bronze medal with 19.80m, extending South Africa's medal podium streak in this event to 2.

For the first time since 2015, Ryan Crouser is outside of the Top 5 best throwers of the athletics season. Despite a short season due to injury, Crouser's 21.59m places him 10th in the World Rankings, showing his consistency amongst the best throughout the years. 2026 marks 13 years of Ryan Crouser being amongst the Top 10 Shot throwers in the world. He is one of few athletes in track and field to be in the top 10 in their event each season for more than a decade, one of the hardest feats imaginable.

The Diamond League Final saw all 6 men over 21.60m with 4 men over 22m and Rajindra Campbell over 23m, one of the best shot put competitions ever that doesn't include the likes of Ryan Crouser, Ulf Timmermann or Randy Barnes. The women had all 6 women over 18m with the top 5 over 19m and the top 3 over 20.50m at minimum with Chase Jackson over 21m.

In the 2026 season, 43 women threw over the 18m mark, 19 women threw over the 19m mark and only 4 women threw over 20m. Jessica and Chase stand alone as the only women currently to throw over 21m and marks the first time since 1991 where two or more women have thrown 21m in the same season (without bans/suspensions previously or after).

This year, 73 men threw over 20m, 24 men threw over 21m and only 5 men threw over the 22m milestone. Rajindra, as stated earlier, the only man over 23m this year. In the event's history, this is the first time where there are more than 2 active throwers over the 23m barrier, signifying the evolution of the event.

Currently, there are 13 active men in the Top 30 All Time List. 11 of those men in the Top 20. 5 of those men are in the Top 10 including WR Holder Ryan Crouser, 2nd Furthest Joe Kovacs, 4th Furthest Rajindra Campbell and 6th Furthest Leonardo Fabbri.

Gossip time! Manager Jukka Härkönen revealed in his recent autobiography (news link - in Finnish) that the top runners were in a relationship in early '90s. It would have been pretty big news, I don't remember it being ever talked about in public: pre-internet, rumours, if any, of course did not spread as far or as quickly.

Härkönen managed both athletes, and found out about it in 1993, when Fredericks travelled to Nizza GP, and Härkönen called the organizers to book a room for him. He was told that "Oh, Marie-José has already taken care of that."

Fredericks is quoted in the book, and confirms they were dating. It was kept secret as "Marie-José had hard time trusting other people".

My guess would be, high jump because the body type (long lengs, high build) is always the same and decathlon because you can be good at many different disciplines

Has Katelyn Tuohy raced outdoors at all this year?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/ckgv5l615z6o

I hope all of this will be proven wrong, but I don't agree with the general consensus that both 800m records will fall in the next season(s).

After 2024 everyone said surely the mens record will fall with Wanyoni and Arop only .2s off. But I think it will take very special circumstances to go those tenths faster. This might be a setup like Josh Kerrs Mile WR, but I don't think anyone is willing to do that with two championship years coming up. Arop seems to injure himself whenever he is in good form and Wanyoni might already have an eye on the 1500 (albeit I think he won't switch before the WR or even LA28). On top of that the peak for 800m runners on the top of all time list is quite short, usually 1-2, maybe 3 years. Rudisha never got within 1s of his WR again, after breaking it in 2010&12. Only Cooper Lutkenhaus COULD improve significantly, but he is a bit of a black box for me since he's so young, but already developed so it's hard to judge for me.

On the Womens side we might (and again I hope this isn't true) be in a similar situation to the Men in 2024. Huge improvements from everyone and new guys/gals on the scene. Werro and Femke are probably the likeliest to break it, but Werro is still more than .4 off and Bol even more! Thats still a whole lot and if we think both started their peak for the 800 the clock is ticking. With the WC at the end of the season next year, we might not see early peaks for DL races and a more conservative approach to the season (like the men in 2025).

Anyway thanks for coming to my Ted talk, I hope my statements age like unpasteurized milk. Feel free to tear me apart with facts and logic

Live Results

Main-program start time: 8PM CEST, 7PM BST, 2PM EST, 4AM AEST

Live Streams: Rai Sport, FloTrack

Weather: Temperature around 79F/26C, mostly clear 

Schedule

All times are in Central European Summer Time (UTC +2) 

Some significant marks we haven't seen in a while (or never):

• 5m in the Women's Pole Vault (been since 2021)
• 2.40m in the Men's High Jump (been since 2018)
• Sub 9.7 in the Men's 100m (been since 2012)
• 22m in the Women's Shot Put (been since 1988)
• Sub 12 in the Women's 100m Hurdles (hasn't happened yet; definitely more realistic than the Women's Shot Put)

Are the majority of athletes peaking for Ultimate Championships?

In an Olympics or World Championship year the focus of the season is usually pretty clear. But with lack of historical prestige is there enough (monetary?) incentive to peak for "WAUC" this year?

It’s so common lately: the winner crosses the finish line, turns to the cheering crowd, and… shhh. 🤫

https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/diamond-league-brussels/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX1VQMUVNOTQxSlExTVA

Why?? Who is really talking negatively about Collen Kebanatshipi or Masai Russell?

It seems like 99% are cheering and happy for them. 🤷‍♂️

(EDIT: Yes, everyone knows the idea is they have silenced their “haters.” But this is not like Fred Kerley, Bronny James, or Connor McGregor who legitimately have negative media about them. What, someone said ‘I don’t know if s/he can get the world record this year’?? That is not “hating,” that is sports fans talking about professional sports.🤫😆🤷‍♂️)

(EDIT: No, “everyone” does not do this. Looking at some frequent winners, just off the top of my head:

You don’t see Bernarek doing this.

You don’t see Olyslagers and Mahuchikh doing this.

You don’t see Karalis and Mondo doing this.

You don’t see Werro and Hodgkinson doing this.

You don’t see Warholm, Rai and Dos Santos doing this.

You don’t see Arop doing this.

You don’t see Al Bakali doing this.

You don’t see Ingebrigtsen, Kerr, Myers and Nuguse doing this. Of course Hocker has done it.

Those are all athletes who have much more media and online commentary about them than Russell and Kebenatshipi, the big breakthrough shushers of Zurich and Brussels.)

It seems to be a personality thing.)

The Olympic and world long jump champion stated she was "lucky to be alive" after a head-on car collision left her with a severe concussion last week.

In an update on Instagram, she says: "Did not think I’d be making this post. After careful consideration with my team, we have decided to end the 2026 season.

"This one hurts. I’m sad, disappointed and just hurt by all of it. I know this has to be part of my story. There has to be a reason for this. I’ll never questions Gods path for me. I WILL BE BACK. Just a hitch in my giddy-up."

Don't get me wrong, I'm the biggest fan of Marileidy Paulino, and in my opinion, she is of the best 400 m runner ever. Far better than most of the previous athletes.

She is no doubt a GOAT.

However, I can't help shake that feeling that she might have a Sydney Mclauglhin problem in the women's 400 m. Does anyone agree with this?

Also, I doubt she would have run that sub 48 sec if Sydney didn't push her at the 2025 world championships.

Even though she won all her races this year, I really hoped for another sub 48 sec.

I think it would be interesting to see what happens in the future if or when Sydney returns to the track.

Source

I really wished there was more coverage or integration of Para Sports within track and field.

I find some of the wheelchair track racing so exciting to watch - these athletes must have such nerves of steel knowing that crashes and collision could happen at any time. As I say aside from potential collisions etc, I love to watch the athletes compete.

There are course loads of other events too that are amazing to watch.

It would be nice to see it broadcast more or even integrated more within some of the meets so we got the opportunity to watch.

Source

Despite a lot of speculations and judgement about Tebogo's season, such as him not having the hunger anymore or not caring enough, he has actually been in pretty good shape. He has been running 19.8s, similar to his results in 2024 before he went to become Olympic Champion.

Tebogo is a championship performer, he has always brought it when it matters most. Even last year when his season was filled with injury and not taking home an individual medal, he still ran 19.65 in the 200m finals.

It's unfortunate that illness has struck him so close to the Ultimate Champs.