The World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest have released the final start list for the inaugural meeting, which begins Friday. The championships run from Sept. 11 to 13 and will bring together some of the world’s fastest athletes, along with some of the biggest prize purses in track and field, totalling US$10 million. A strong contingent of Canadian record holders and champions will take to the start line.
The relay squad
The 4x100m mixed relay will open the meeting Friday, with Canada entering as a strong contender. The team is ranked third in the field with a season’s best of 40.07 seconds.
The squad of Eliezer Adjibi, Marie-Éloïse Leclair, Duan Asemota and Audrey Leduc qualified for the 2027 World Championships at the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 in Gaborone, Botswana, in May, after a 40.30-second performance. They finished behind Jamaica, which set a world record of 39.62 seconds. It could take close to that time for Canada to claim the win in Budapest.
While Team Canada has qualified for the event, its exact lineup for the championships remains uncertain.
The quartet of Sade McCreath, Audrey Leduc, Jacqueline Madogo and Marie-Éloïse Leclair set a new Canadian national record of 42.50 seconds in qualifying at Paris 2024. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
Women’s contingent
Canada’s 200m record holder Leduc of Gatineau, Que., could kick things off in the mixed relay, but she is also entered in the women’s 100m. Although she qualified for the 200m with a sixth-place finish at the Diamond League final, she is not listed on the championships’ 200m start list and has opted to compete only in the 100m and relay. This may be Leduc’s last opportunity to reclaim her 100m national record from Ajax, Ont.’s Sadé McCreath, who is also in the field.
McCreath shattered the Canadian 100m record in Edmonton with a 10.86s run in July, to take Leduc’s mark by 0.08 seconds. However, she has not dipped under 11 seconds in a race since and has finished second to Leduc in both of their meetings this year.
Canada’s Sadé McCreath at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
The two Canadian record holders will now go head-to-head in Budapest in one of the strongest 100m fields assembled this season.
The men’s squad
The men’s 200m in Budapest also has two Canadian sprint stars: Scarborough’s Andre De Grasse, the national record holder, and Toronto’s Aaron Brown, the reigning Canadian champion.
De Grasse opened the season strong with a season’s best 19.84 at the Botswana Grand Prix in April, but has struggled to replicate that performance, breaking 20 seconds only once since. He did add a quick 100m time of 9.96 at the Silesia Diamond League meeting, finishing sixth, before clocking a relaxed 20.03 in the 200m in Zurich a few days later. In June, Brown won his 13th Canadian title at the 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships in the 200m, clocking 20.33. He also placed fourth in the 200m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Andre De Grasse in the semi-final of the men’s 200m at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
In the long sprints, Vaughan, Ont.’s Christopher Morales Williams will take on the men’s 400m. Despite a disappointing semi-final exit at the Commonwealth Games, he appears to be back in top form after a 44.44 win at the GalAthletics Bellinzona meeting in Switzerland on Aug. 30. He will look to carry that form into Budapest, with Canadian fans hoping to see a repeat of his gold-medal performance at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Marco Arop of Edmonton rounds out Canada’s entries and will line up alongside his rivals, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati. In their Diamond League final matchup on Friday, Wanyonyi ran a commanding race to take the win, while Arop struggled to hold on in the final metres. Arop was dealing with an Achilles injury in early August and has had difficulty returning to his top form, but with a week of rest, Canadian fans will hope to see him challenge Wanyonyi and Sedjati for the top spot.