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Coe dismisses Grand Slam Track comparisons as he guarantees Ultimate athletes will be paid on time

Ahead of the debut of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Friday, World Athletics head Seb Coe refuted suggestions that the competition could mirror the monetary breakdown seen with Grand Slam Track. Emphasizing that competitor payments are fully ensured on schedule, Coe described the collapsed circuit as an unusual exception.

He credited a decade spent overhauling the international body's previously inadequate internal governance and structure, alongside three years spent finalizing a funded business model with local municipal assurances, arguing that rushed operations lacking media partners and backup strategies are fundamentally unrealistic.

Developed alongside World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon—drawing upon the duo's history with Fast Track during the 1990s—the showcase was conceived to provide a massive broadcast spectacle during empty calendar periods instead of merely scheduling an additional World Championships. While Coe acknowledged that the debut edition will be an evolving experiment aimed at cultivating fresh and youthful demographics, he envisions the meet serving as a testbed for concepts that might later integrate into the flagship World Championships.