Ultimate track stars to watch

We pick out some of the key athletes to look out for during the three nights of action at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

As the person shaping the creative direction of Club Ultimate, Lyles very much plans to leave his mark on Budapest at the athlete after-party. But prior to that, he intends to have every reason to celebrate as he goes for the sprint double in the 100m and 200m. He is the form athlete for the shorter distance, matching his personal best of 9.79 in winning the US title at the end of July. He pulled up before the line in the 200m at his national championships and has been a little off the pace at that distance with a season’s best of 19.91 but he is a four-time world champion for the event.

The Saint Lucian’s coach Edrick Floreal said he “broke too many eggs” with regards to Alfred when the World Championships came to Budapest in 2023. He blamed himself for not having her in the right shape for the 2023 season finale and avoided a repeat a year later as she was crowned Olympic champion in the 100m in Paris and took home the silver in the longer sprint. She has shown form at both distances this season, notably winning the 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Budapest in a season’s best of 10.87 in mid-July. She is also the world’s fastest woman this year for the 200m with 21.51 in Monaco.

Such are the Dominican’s track achievements that she even has her own eponymous film, Marileidy, coming out this summer. Hers is a remarkable story of climbing out of childhood poverty to have her talent for athletics discovered on a handball court by the sports minister. At first, she trained barefoot, then in socks before being gifted trainers. The former handball player has gone from strength to strength on the global stage, winning the 400m world title in 2023 and then Olympic gold a year later. She has dominated one lap of the track this season, no one going faster than the 48.48 she set in her Diamond League victory in Paris in June.

The 22-year-old insisted he had a new motivation to run following the birth of his first child, daughter Noellah, with fellow athlete Nelly Chepchirchir. He has picked up a world record since over the rarely run 1000m in Monaco back in July but the aimed-for record in the 800m - targeted with his coach Claudio Berardelli - has yet to emerge. He is already an Olympic and world champion and a three-time Diamond League champion over two laps of the track.

Kerr and his coach Danny Mackey pride themselves on the Scot being a championship performer but they changed the target this season to focus on breaking the mile world record. Kerr achieved the feat at the London Diamond League but showed that, in preparing for records, he had lost none of his championship prowess in then winning Commonwealth Games gold just a few days later. The Ultimate is the remaining target and his muscle memory should be in good order on his return to Budapest. It was here in 2023 that he beat the world’s best middle-distance runners to be crowned world champion.

The US hurdler achieved the world record she had been edging towards, clocking a sensational 12.09 during the Diamond League meeting in Zurich. Now Russell has the chance to round off an already impressive season by clinching victory at the Ultimate Championship. She now has four of the six fastest times ever run so the pedigree is clearly there but the Olympic champion knows the calibre of the athletes she is up against in the 100m hurdles.