Amusan, Ajayi lead Nigeria’s Budapest 2026 Ultimate Championship team

Nigeria will be represented at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship from September 11 to 13, 2026. The inaugural three-day event will take place at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.

Tobi Amusan, Kayinsola Ajayi, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Samuel Ogazi and Ella Onojuvwevwo are currently qualified for Nigeria. Temitope Adeshina is still seeking a place before the September 2 qualification deadline, while the country’s relay pool includes Alaba Akintola, Udodi Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe, Miracle Ezechukwu, Rosemary Chigozie and Jennifer Obi Chukwuka.

The championship is being created to bring together Olympic champions, world champions, Diamond League winners and the leading performers of the 2026 season. Nigeria’s athletes will line up alongside names such as Mondo Duplantis, Noah Lyles, Julien Alfred, Faith Kipyegon, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Rai Benjamin and Marileidy Paulino. Femke Bol, Letsile Tebogo, Oblique Seville, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Nicola Olyslagers and Ditaji Kambundji are also among the qualified world champions.

Amusan remains Nigeria’s most established name in the group. She holds the women’s 100m hurdles world record of 12.12 seconds, set in the 2022 World Championships semi-final, where she later won Nigeria’s first women’s world title. The three-time Diamond League Final winner and world silver medallist is currently ranked second globally in her event.

Ajayi and Ogazi represent the country’s emerging sprint strength. Ajayi, 21, is fifth in the world rankings for the 100m after matching Nigeria’s national record three times in 2026, including a 9.84-second victory at the London Athletics Meet. He has also won an NCAA title and two Diamond League races. Ogazi, 20, ranks among the sport’s leading 400m runners after setting a Nigerian record of 43.38 seconds in June and winning Commonwealth gold in Glasgow in 44.25. Ezekiel, meanwhile, is fourth in the world for the 400m hurdles, owns Nigeria’s 47.11-second national record and won Commonwealth gold in 48.47.

The Budapest meeting gives Nigeria’s established athletes and rising contenders a platform against the strongest field assembled for the new championship. More Nigerian qualifiers may be added before the deadline.