5 out LGBTQ American track stars vie to be the best at the inaugural Ultimate Championships

World Athletics will hold its inaugural invitation-only Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hungary, starting Friday. Fields will consist of 12 to 16 athletes, limited to 2024 Olympic Champions, 2025 World Champions and the top-ranked performers in 2026 with $150,000 per event win on the line.

Five out LGBTQ American track and field stars are in the scrum to be an Ultimate champ.

Trey Cunningham: 110-meter hurdles

In a season that saw high hurdlers go faster earlier than anyone in history, Cunningham first lit the fuse.

At the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea in June in Rome, the gay hurdler uncorked a personal best and meet record 12.98 seconds to win the 110 hurdles. The secret he said was the mental approach he adopted for 2026.

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“Nothing else matters but right now,” he said to FloTrack minutes after his season-opening performance. “That means right now like react to the [start]. Then to step one, step two, and then all the way down to step 40 across the finish line.”

One week later, Auburn collegian Ja’Kobe Tharp took that mantra to a new limit at the NCAA’s national championships. He ran his semifinal heat in a world record 12.75 seconds, and then backed it up with a 12.90 to win the national title.

To win an Ultimate title, Cunningham will have to negotiate Tharp, fellow American and 2025 world champ Cordell Tinch and Diamond League finals winner Jamal Britt.

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Cunningham was one of the stars of the Miami meet with wins in the 110-meter hurdles and 100-meter sprint.

Sha’Carri Richardson: 100 meters

Since the 2024 Paris Olympics, an interesting cottage industry has grown among track pundits in the women’s sprints: counting out Sha’Carri Richardson, only to have her remind you who she is.

She had a lackluster 2025 that saw her finish out of the money in every major final in an injury-plagued year. Then came a rainy anchor leg in the 4×100 relay at World Championships, where Richardson held on to a lead and an American gold.

This season, it seems to be the same story. Two fourths at early season events in China, then she put up a 10.77 mark to win in Florida, and a 10.79 at Prefontaine in a photo finish loss to Melissa Jefferson-Wooten.

Oh, by the way, your 2026 USATF women’s 100-meter champion? It’s Richardson with another 10.77, and it put the last year into focus. “It feels phenomenal to be back in a better place — healthy, mentally, physically, emotionally,” Richardson said to reporters after the race. “It shows that hard work pays off and just really remembering who I am and just knowing that consistency and just being determined to be better.”

She enters the 100 at the Ultimate Championship with the No. 4 seed but with the world’s third-best time, behind 2025 world champ Jefferson-Wooten and 2024 Paris gold medalist Julien Alfred.

Yared Nuguse: 1,500 meters

Don’t let the shy smile fool you. Yared Nuguse is hotly competitive, but that’s the current state of middle- distance running as a whole. But hotly competitive is what makes running fun to watch but frustrating on the athletes.

Imagine being in striking distance to win the Bislett and Prefontaine miles, only to fall inches short in second. Then imagine running the mile of your life and finishing second to Josh Kerr’s dominating world record performance in London in July.

Then fighting through two contentious Diamond League 1,500-meter races and again falling short despite being in the middle of the fight at the finish.

That is what Nuguse will face again in Budapest in would could be a rerun of the 2024 Olympic final where he ended up third by inches.

Nikki Hiltz: 1,500 meters

They’ve been both hunter and hunted in 2026, but the Californian with the grin continues to win.

Two races have stood out on the road to this Ultimate Championship for Nikki Hiltz. The first was their charge down the final straight at USATF Nationals in July in the women’s 1,500 meters where Hiltz took their 11th overall national title in a three-way photo finish.

The other happened at the Prefontaine Classic in June. The Pre Classic mile had a field worthy of an Olympic final that including all-conquered Faith Kipyegon of Kenya.

Hiltz conquered her in the mile that day in a stunning upset that again was won on the final stretch.

Hiltz is a contender heading into this weekend in one of the deepest events. They also come in with momentum, putting up a season best 3:56.97 at the Diamond League Finals last week while finishing fifth.

Kipyegon is skipping the Ultimate Championships, but the field is still deep. Australia’s Jessica Hull enters as top seed. Britain’s Georgia Hunter-Bell is third seeded and has pushed Hull all year. Kenya’s Dorcus Ewoi and Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom have been in the mix all season. Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska beat the entire field, including Hull. Hunter-Bell, Ewoi and Hiltz in an upset win at the Diamond League Final.

Another wild 1,500 is set for Budapest, and Hiltz wouldn’t want it any other way. “It’s not like one person’s dominating and I think that makes this really fun,” they said in Brussels. “Budapest is anyone’s race.”

Nico Young: 5,000 meters

Nico Young is still young at 24, but it seems like he has been among the top runners at 5,000 and 10,000 meters for longer.

Young is a high School All-American, two-time NCAA champion, 2024 Olympic finalist and 2025 USATF national champion at 10,000 meters.

But 2026 has tested his resolved. Nagging injuries kept him on the shelf for much of the outdoor season, but his first race back after missing most of June and July showed that Young could compete. A third- place finish at 5000 meters at the Diamond League stop in Lausanne at 12 minutes, 58.33 seconds showed that he could fight back.

“I think that was like indicative that I haven’t raced in a while, but I surprised myself with being able to stick with it till the end,” Young told Citius after the race.

Despite a relatively light schedule for 2026, Young was able to get in this field of 12. He solidified his place with gritty effort at the Diamond League final last week in run to sixth place in a season best 12 minutes, 48.12 seconds.

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