Sharlene Mawdsley set for return at new $10 million Ultimate Championship in Budapest

Six weeks of rehabilitation have put Sharlene Mawdsley back on track for a return at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, where athletes will compete for a record $10 million prize fund.

The Tipperary 400-meter runner will first test her hamstring in a race over the same distance at Tuesday evening’s Palio Città della Quercia meeting in Rovereto, Italy. It will be her first competition since she tore the muscle during the 200 meters at the National Championships in Santry on July 25. The injury forced her to withdraw from last month’s European Championships in Birmingham.

If she completes the Rovereto race without a setback, Mawdsley will compete in the 400 meters at Budapest’s National Athletics Stadium. The new championship will run across three evening sessions from Friday to Sunday and is intended to take place every two years in seasons without a World Athletics Championships.

The event will feature 13 individual competitions for men and women, plus two mixed relays. Athletes qualified through elite invitations based mainly on rankings, with Olympic champions from Paris 2024, world champions from Tokyo last year and the 2026 Diamond League final winners among those invited. Mawdsley ranks 13th among the 16 women in the 400-meter field.

The prize structure has added to the event’s appeal. Each individual winner will receive $150,000, the biggest first prize in track and field history. The runner-up will get $75,000, third place $40,000, and even the 16th-place finisher will receive $2,000. Mark English, ranked seventh among the men’s 800-meter entrants, and Rhasidat Adeleke, ranked 16th in the women’s 200 meters, are the other Irish invitees.