Global "bragging rights" are up for grabs at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said on Thursday, hailing the inaugural three-day event as an "incubator for change".
The Ultimate will feature 381 athletes from 65 federations competing for unmatched prize money totalling $10 million.
Automatic qualifiers for the season-ending Ultimate event include 26 Olympic champions from the 2024 Paris Games, 26 world champions from Tokyo last year and 25 Diamond League winners from the 2026 season, along with the best performers of the year based on the world rankings qualification system.
With 2026 having neither a world championships nor an Olympic Games, World Athletics introduced the Ultimate as a way of sealing the season with 28 disciplines delivered in a fast-paced, made-for-television format.
"We've created a stage that I really genuinely think that our best athletes will respond to," said Coe, a two-time Olympic 1 500m gold medallist for Britain.
"There's the bar room, coffee house discussions: who's the best?
"Nobody goes into the sport to sort of figure out who's second best.
"They go in wanting to know who's the best. At the end of these championships, we will have gone a long way to identifying that.
"There are no few bragging rights involved in this."
EXTRAORDINARY SEASON
Coe said the Ultimate was the perfect way to bring an end to what he said had been "an extraordinary season".
"I think we will see some compelling competitions, a compelling glimpse into the future and the potential of this sport, which at its best, and we've seen that in the last two weeks, is untouched," he said.
The idea behind the Ultimate, he added, was "to spotlight the stars and to create new formats, a reimagined field of play and a reimagined timetable that will eliminate downtime".
It was like "a blast furnace, ultimately casting and shaping what our sport can look like going forward and we want to take some of those innovations into the world championships, into the Olympic Games".
"We want this to be really the start of an innovative journey through every aspect of our sport."
Coe drew criticism by unilaterally introducing prize money for winners of athletics events at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
But he insisted Thursday that financial incentives were crucial.
"I am unapologetic and we are unwavering in athletics about our support for the athletes and their financial welfare," he said.
"It is the third critical pillar that has to sit alongside our mental and physical approach."
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, in his role as an ambassador for the Ultimate nine years after retiring from the track, said it was "great to see track and field going in a different direction".
"It's going to be great to see the best of the best," said the eight-time Olympic gold medallist.
"This was one of my greatest things. I've always lived to compete against the best and I would strive in this moment."