Double sprint doubles lead four-win Team USATF final day at World Ultimate Championship

BUDAPEST — Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek completed historic sprint doubles and Team USATF came away with four victories Sunday on the third and final day of the inaugural World Ultimate Championship at National Stadium. Over the three-day Championship, Americans won 10 of the 28 events.
 
Bringing the meet to a crescendo in the ultimate event, Jefferson-Wooden destroyed an all-star field in the women's 200 with a 21.47 masterpiece that made her the third fastest woman in history and the second fastest American ever. Jefferson-Wooden, who easily won the 100 last night in 10.62, matched the double she won at the World Championships in Tokyo last year and brought her winnings to $300,000 for the weekend.
 
U.S. athletes swept the top three places with Olympic champ Gabby Thomas second in 21.77 and Kayla White third in 21.93. Cambrea Sturgis placed sixth in 22.46, and Anavia Battle was seventh in 22.54
 
Bednarek won the 100 in an upset last night, edging world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica by .01. Tonight's victory was anything but close. Rocketing off the bend, the four-time Olympic and World Championships silver medalist was untouchable as he moved to No. 7 on the all-time world performer list and No. 4 on the U.S. list.
 
Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana had a season best of 19.76 in second and Courtney Lindsey ran his fastest deuce of the year with a 19.79 in third. Like Jefferson-Wooden, Bednarek earned a cool $300,000 for his speedy efforts.
 
Completing a sweep of mixed relay titles, Team USATF's quartet in the 4x400 ran the seventh fastest time ever to win going away in 3:08.32. Chris Bailey gave the team an early lead with a 44.73 leadoff split, and Alexis Holmes demonstrated why she is a stalwart on U.S. mixed 4x4s with a solid 49.51 to keep  the lead against a strong challenge from Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands.
 
Stretching the American lead on the third circuit, Jacory Patterson split 44.61 and handed off to USATF 400 champ Aaliyah Butler with a lead of 0.38 seconds. Butler was never going to be caught and she safely carried the baton around the oval in 49.47 to seal the victory. Great Britian took second in 3:09.40 on the strength of a stellar anchor leg by Charlotte Henrich, and the Netherlands placed third in 3:09.57.
 
An aggressive pace from the gun put Anna Cockrell in the lead through the halfway point of the women's 400 hurdles, hitting 200 in 24.27, but off the final bend she had Jasmine Jones and Emma Zapletalova of Slovakia moving up on her inside. Over the final two barriers Jones started to move ahead as Cockrell faltered a bit, and Zapletalova soon took over second.
 
Jones, the silver medalist ahead of Zapletalova's bronze at the World Championships last summer, cleared the last hurdle well and won in a season best of 52.45, with Zapletalova second in 52.68 and Cockrell third in 53.09. Running the last race of a certain Hall of Fame career, 36-year-old Dalilah Muhammad finished a strong fourth in a season best of 53.11.
 
Putting the three fastest men in history in adjacent lanes with a big cash prize for the taking was bound to produce fireworks in the men's 400 hurdles, and Brazil's Alison dos Santos was the brightest of the explosive trio as he sped to the third fastest time in history, a 45.98 that put him well clear of Rai Benjamin and Karsten Warholm.
 
Benjamin, the American record holder and the reigning Olympic champion, was completing an unusual and difficult double after placing second in the flat 400 yesterday, and he set a rapid early pace with a first 100 of 11.26, dragging dos Santos and Warholm with him. The Brazilian, who set the world record of 45.80 last month in Zürich, had a negligible lead at 200 in 21.95 and he and Benjamin were virtually even at 300.
 
The American had a slight bobble at the eighth barrier and clipped hurdle nine and that was the break dos Santos needed to open the door for a clean run to the finish. Benjamin set a season best of 46.40 in second, the third fastest ever by a U.S. athlete, and Warholm was third in 46.78.
 
Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, he of the half-beard, added another global title to his already impressive collection with a season best and world-leading 2.37 clearance in the men's high jump. Tamberi, the 2021 Olympic champ and 2023 World Championships gold medalist, was tied with JuVaughn Harrison after both men cleared 2.26 first time, but moved to the lead with a second attempt make at 2.30 when Harrison needed three tries to go over.
 
Tamberi then made 2.33 first time and Harrison missed once, choosing to pass his two remaining attempts. Watching the Italian go over 2.35 on his first attempt, Harrison passed that height and jumped once at 2.37. He missed that jump and had to watch Tamberi make it on his second try. That left Harrison with only one attempt available, and he chose to take that at 2.39, but couldn't find success and settled for second. Tamberi gamely made three attempts at 2.41 but was never close. USATF champion Tyus Wilson tied for seventh at 2.17.
 
New mile world record holder Josh Kerr of Great Britain used a 52.57 final 400 to come away with the men's 1500 win, staving off a challenge by Australian youngster Cam Myers in the final 200 to cross the line first in 3:29.35. Myers was second in 3:29.68, while Hobbs Kessler was the top American, clocking 3:30.73 for third.
 
Robert Farken of Germany made the early pace, going through 400 in 57.09 and 800 in 1:55.29. American mile record holder Yared Nuguse took over from there and was leading at the bell in 2:36.38 but couldn't hang onto that lead on the backstretch. Kerr surged to the front with 200 remaining and covered the final half lap in 26.02, chased by Myers, Kessler, and a rapidly closing Cole Hocker. Hocker, the Olympic champion at Paris, ran 26.40 for the final 200 and was fourth in a season best of 3:30.74 as he was outleaned by Kessler. Nuguse was fifth in 3:30.76, while Ethan Strand took seventh in 3:31.30.
 
For 780 meters of the men's 800, it looked like Canada's Marco Arop had chosen a good race plan by sprinting to a big lead, but his tank went quickly to "E" in the closing stages and he was run down by Algeria's Djamel Sedjati, who won in 1:41.91. Arop went through 400 in under 50 seconds and was in control of the race down the final backstretch but couldn't hold that torrid pace and was second in 1:42.28. Olympic champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya was never really in contention, placing third in 1:42.44, while Brandon Miller kicked his way into fourth in 1:42.54.
 
Sri Lanka's Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage has been the revelation of 2026 in the men's javelin with two competitions beyond 92 meters, and he solidified his claim as world No. 1 here with a massive 91.09 on his final throw to win by almost five meters over two-time world champ Anderson Peters of Grenada. Peters was second at 86.18, while Germany's Julian Weber ended up third at 85.89. Curtis Thompson was eighth with a best of 75.80.
 
What started out as a fairly competitive women's 5000 turned into a blowout win for Ethiopia's Likina Amebaw. Amebaw took the lead at the halfway point and never was challenged again as she won in 14:30.36. Maureen Koster of the Netherlands handled the early pacing chores and took the field through 1K in 3:00.64 and 2K in 6:00.63 before Amebaw went to the front and passed 3K in 8:51.70.
 
Amebaw stretched her lead to more than five seconds as she went through 4K in 11:38.45, and the only question then was who could break through for the minor placings. Australia's Jess Hull had the best finishing kick and grabbed second in 14:32.39, with Fantaye Belayneh third in 14:32.62. Shelby Houlihan, who was third through 1800, faded badly and ended up 12th in 15:18.65.

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