<\/p>\n
Mohamed Attaoui will be the sole Spanish athlete competing this Saturday on the second day of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest 2026. The Cantabrian middle-distance runner will face the 800 metres semi-finals, scheduled to start at 18:26, with the objective of earning one of the eight berths for Sunday\u2019s final. Each semi-final will bring together eight runners and the first four will directly advance to the fight for the title.<\/p>\n
Attaoui, bronze in the recent European Championship in Birmingham and also third in the World Championship in Torun last March, will confront an 800m of immense quality. The man to beat once again is Emmanuel Wanyonyi<\/b>, the 2026 world leader with 1:41.76 and the dominator of the distance in recent seasons. The lineup also features names such as Marco Arop<\/b>, Djamel Sedjati<\/b>, Brandon Miller<\/b>, Eliott Crestan<\/b> or the European champion Mark English<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Max Burgin also returns to competition, having been unable to take part in the European final in Birmingham. In a race where any mistake can knock out one of the favourites, Attaoui will first have to clear the major hurdle of his semi, in which he will face Yanis Meziane, Marino Bloudek, Handal Roban, Eliott Crestan, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Brandon Miller and Navasky Anderson.<\/p>\n
One of the major female attractions will arrive in the 100 metres<\/b>, where Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Julien Alfred will measure themselves again after sharing their two direct encounters this season. Two of the fastest sprinters of the moment will seek to become the first Ultimate champion at this distance.<\/p>\n
The 1500 metres (women)<\/b> looks much more open than it would have seemed a few weeks ago. The Polish Klaudia Kazimierska<\/b> completely changed the betting after taking the Brussels Diamond League final with 3:54.05, the best world mark of 2026 and a national record. In Budapest she will again meet Dorcus Ewoi<\/b> and Jessica Hull<\/b>, second and third in that race, as well as European champion Georgia Hunter Bell<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Another name to watch will be Freweyni Hailu<\/b>, champion of the Diamond League in the 5000 metres, who returns to the 1500 after several weeks focused on longer distances.<\/p>\nYan Ziyi threatens the world javelin record<\/h2>\n
In the field events, much of the attention will focus on the very young Chinese Yan Ziyi<\/b>. The prodigious thrower arrives in Budapest after a spectacular season in which she has reached 71.74 metres<\/b>, the second-best mark of all time and only 54 centimetres away from Barbora \u0160pot\u00e1kov\u00e1\u2019s world record of 72.28.<\/p>\n
The question now seems not only whether Yan can win, but how far she can throw the javelin. Surpassing 70 metres again and even approaching the world record are within possibility.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s pole vault<\/b>, Hana Moll arrives propelled by her Diamond League victory and appears among the leading contenders. Swiss Angelica Moser, European champion, Sandi Morris and three-time world champion Katie Moon guarantee a contest of the highest level.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s session also includes the semi-finals of the 400 metres hurdles<\/b>, with Anna Cockrell as global leader and Diamond League champion. The American will face the European champion Emma Zapletalov\u00e1, as well as Jasmine Jones and other top specialists. The final will be held on Sunday.<\/p>\nDos Santos, Warholm and Benjamin: clash of giants<\/h2>\n
Yet perhaps the most anticipated confrontation of the entire second day will come in the men\u2019s 400 metres hurdles<\/b>. For the first time since the Tokyo 2025 World Championship final, the three fastest men in the history of the event will again coincide on the track: Alison dos Santos<\/b>, Karsten Warholm<\/b> and Rai Benjamin<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Dos Santos arrives at an extraordinary moment after breaking the world record in Zurich with 45.80<\/b>, lowering the 45.94 that Warholm had held since the Tokyo Olympics. The Brazilian then closed the Diamond League with another victory in Brussels.<\/p>\n
Warholm will try to recover ground against the man who has dominated him this season, while Benjamin returns to the hurdles after concentrating much of 2026 on the flat 400 metres. Today Saturday the semi-finals are held; the big final will be tomorrow Sunday.<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s 100 metres<\/b>, Oblique Seville appears as the man to beat. The Jamaican, world champion and Diamond League winner, arrives after a run of great consistency and won in Brussels with 9.90. Emmanuel Eseme<\/b>, Kenny Bednarek<\/b>, Kayinsola Ajayi<\/b>, Letsile Tebogo<\/b>, Marcell Jacobs<\/b> or Akani Simbine<\/b> are part of a lineup with immense depth.<\/p>\n
The long jump<\/b> points to another big duel between Miltiadis Tentoglou<\/b> and Tajay Gayle<\/b>. The Greek leads the season\u2019s world ranking with 8.66 metres, while Gayle arrives strengthened after defeating him in the Diamond League final.<\/p>\n
The second day also includes the finals for both the men and women of 400 metres (with<\/b> Rai Benjamin<\/b>, Busang Kebinapshipi<\/b>, Jacory Patterson<\/b>, Marileydi Paulino<\/b>, Salwa Eid-Naser<\/b> and Henriette Jaeger<\/b> as the main stars) and the women\u2019s 800 final<\/b>, featuring the great showdown between Audrey Werro<\/b>, Femke Broeders-Bol<\/b> and Keely Hodgkinson<\/b>, within a program lasting barely three hours in which the Ultimate Championship format allows little room for error. For Spain, however, all attention will initially be on Mohamed Attaoui and his attempt to win a place among the eight men who on Sunday will contest the first Ultimate title in the 800 metres.<\/p>\n