Nigeria is set for a strong representation at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, scheduled for September 11–13, 2026, at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
The three-day championship will bring together Olympic champions, World champions, Diamond League winners and the world’s leading performers of the 2026 season in a new global competition designed to crown the ultimate champions in track and field.
Nigeria’s current qualified athletes include Tobi Amusan, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo and Kayinsola Ajayi, with additional athletes still targeting qualification before the September 2 deadline.
Temitope Adeshina remains among the athletes hoping to secure qualification, while Nigeria’s relay pool includes Alaba Akintola, Udodi Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe, Miracle Ezechukwu, Rosemary Chigozie and Jennifer Obi Chukwuka.
The Nigerian contingent will face an exceptional field in Budapest, with a galaxy of global champions and Olympic stars already qualified. Among the headline names are Olympic champions Mondo Duplantis, Noah Lyles, Julien Alfred, Faith Kipyegon, Yaroslavа Mahuchikh, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Rai Benjamin, Marileidy Paulino. World champions including Femke Bol, Letsile Tebogo, Oblique Seville, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Nicola Olyslagers and Ditaji Kambundji are also set to add to the quality of the competition.
The Ultimate Championship is expected to provide a particularly significant opportunity for Nigeria’s emerging generation, with Ajayi and Ogazi among the country’s young athletes making their mark on the global stage, alongside established stars Amusan Ezekiel.
Tobi Amusan: Women’s 100m Hurdles
The reigning world-record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles owns the official world record of 12.12 seconds, set in the semifinal of the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, where she went on to win Nigeria’s first-ever women’s World Championships gold medal. She is also a three-time Diamond League Final winner and a World Championships silver medallist. Amusan currently sits No. 2 in the world rankings for the event.
Kayinsola Ajayi: Men’s 100m
Kayinsola Ajayi arrives as one of the most exciting sprinters in world athletics. The 21-year-old Nigerian has enjoyed a sensational 2026 season, establishing himself among the world’s elite 100m runners and currently ranking fifth globally according to World Athletics.
Ajayi equalled Nigeria’s national record three times in 2026, most recently running 9.84 seconds to win the Novuna London Athletics Meet in July. On that occasion, he defeated reigning world champion Oblique Seville, clocking the same 9.84 that he had previously run to beat Seville at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
His 2026 campaign has also included an NCAA title, two Diamond League victories and meteoric rise to the upper echelon of global sprinting.
Ajayi’s emergence gives Nigeria one of its strongest men’s 100m prospects in years and puts him firmly among the athletes capable of challenging for major international honours.
Nathaniel Ezekiel: Men’s 400m Hurdles
Ezekiel has established himself as one of Nigeria’s premier 400m hurdlers. He goes to Budapest on the back of winning gold in the men’s 400mH at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, in a resounding 48.47s win. He first announced himself internationally in 2022 by winning the Big 12 title and breaking the Nigerian record with 48.42 seconds. He has since competed at multiple World Championships and the Paris Olympics, while progressing to a 47.11-second Nigerian national record in 2025. He currently ranks No. 4 in the world in the men’s 400m hurdles and is also a Diamond League meeting winner.
Samuel Ogazi: Men’s 400m
Samuel Ogazi has gone from teenage Olympic finalist to Commonwealth champion and national record holder, establishing himself as one of the world’s most exciting young 400m runners.
The 20-year-old produced arguably the most emphatic performance of his young career in Glasgow, winning the men’s 400m gold medal in 44.25 seconds. The performance was just 0.01 seconds outside the Commonwealth Games record of 44.24 set by Grenada’s Kirani James in Glasgow in 2014.
Ogazi had already demonstrated his world-class potential earlier in 2026 by setting the Nigerian national record at 43.38 seconds on June 12. He also ran 44.52 in the Glasgow semifinal, the fastest time in the qualifying round, before producing the 44.25 final that delivered Nigeria’s first-ever Commonwealth Games men’s 400m gold.
His trajectory is remarkable. He was a finalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and arrived in Glasgow ranked No. 1 in the world, according to Commonwealth Sport. His Commonwealth title was also his first senior international medal.
At just 20, Ogazi is already the fourth-fastest man in history over 400m, according to Commonwealth Sport, making him one of the biggest names in Nigeria’s next generation of global athletics stars.
Ella Onojuvwevwo: 400m
Ella Onojuvwevwo has had a breakthrough season that has firmly established her among the world’s best young quarter-milers.
The 21-year-old Nigerian made history in April when she ran 49.59 seconds at the LSU Battle on the Bayou. The performance made her the first Nigerian woman to break 50 seconds in the 400m since Falilat Ogunkoya’s era and made her the first Nigerian woman in more than two decades to achieve the feat. The mark was also an LSU record, ranked among the top performances in NCAA history and placed her among Africa’s all-time elite.
Her indoor season was equally impressive. At the 2026 SEC Indoor Championships, she won the 400m title in 50.96 seconds, becoming only the second woman in LSU history to break 51 seconds indoors.
At the NCAA Indoor Championships, she went even faster, running 50.28 seconds in the preliminaries to set an African indoor record before taking bronze in the final in 50.76. LSU described the 50.28 as the No. 5 performance in collegiate history at the time and the world-leading mark for 2026.
She then carried that form onto the global stage. At Glasgow 2026, Onojuvwevwo won bronze in the women’s 400m in 51.00 seconds, adding a Commonwealth Games medal to an already remarkable season.
Relay Hopes
Nigeria will also look to its relay pool to strengthen its presence in Budapest. Alaba Akintola, Udodi Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe, Miracle Ezechukwu, Rosemary Chigozie and Jennifer Obi Chukwuka, are among those expected to contribute to the country’s relay ambitions, subject to final qualification and selection.
The mixed relay has already demonstrated Nigeria’s potential on the global stage, with Ogazi and Ella Onojuvwevwo among the athletes who helped Nigeria qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the mixed 4x400m relay.
With the qualification window still open until September 2, Nigeria could yet add to its representation before the team travels to Budapest.
The event carries a record US$10 million prize pot, with each gold medallist set to receive US$150,000.
Budapest, the historic capital of Hungary, will provide the stage for the competition. The National Athletics Centre, built for the 2023 World Athletics Championships on the eastern bank of the Danube, will once again host the world’s leading athletes.
