Pole vault sensation Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis said he was excited to be part of the growth of athletics after the two-time Olympic champion was handed an ambassadorial role for next year’s inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
World Athletics announced last year it would hold the global championship as a grand conclusion to the 2026 season. It will then take place every two years.
In a statement, World Athletics said Duplantis had been named ‘Star Athlete’ for the event.
The governing body added that the pole vaulter would be among the “key collaborators pursuing their cultural passions outside of athletics in music, fashion, art, on-screen, who will promote the new global season-ending championship.”
The event will take place in Budapest with a record $10 million in prize money on offer. Gold medallists will each receive $150,000 as part of what the sport’s world governing body has described as the richest prize pot ever in the sport.
Duplantis won his second world title in 2023 in Budapest.
He also broke his own pole vault world record there for a 13th time on Tuesday, soaring 6.29 meters at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Swede said he was hoping to set a new world record during the Ultimate Championship.
“We’re always looking for new ways to make sure that the spotlight shines on athletics and the Ultimate will light up Budapest,” the 25-year-old added.
“I have great memories of winning world gold two years ago and remember the incredible atmosphere inside the stadium that night. It would be a dream to break the world record in front of a packed crowd next year.
“This event is set to showcase our sport like never before and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
The championship is scheduled to take place over three evenings next year from September 11 to September 13.
Each session will last less than three hours, in a bid to capture the attention of global television viewers.
The program will feature 26 individual events – 16 track and 10 field – and two relays, including the new mixed 4x100m.
Pole vault king Duplantis to promote World Athletics Ultimate Championship
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Pole vault king Duplantis to promote World Athletics Ultimate Championship
- World Athletics announced last year it would hold the global championship as a grand conclusion to the 2026 season. It will then take place every two years
Turkiye orders arrest of 29 footballers in betting scandal
- Among the players, 27 are suspected of having bet on matches involving their own teams, prosecutors said
- One was Metehan Baltaci, who plays for reigning Turkish champions Galatasaray
ISTANBUL: Istanbul prosecutors on Friday ordered the arrest of 46 people, among them 29 football players, as part of a sprawling investigation into illegal betting on Turkish matches.
Among the players, 27 are suspected of having bet on matches involving their own teams, the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
One was Metehan Baltaci, who plays for reigning Turkish champions Galatasaray, it said. Earlier this month, he had been suspended for nine months over the betting scandal.
The investigation has rocked Turkish football, with six referees placed in pre-trial detention on November 10, along with the president of Eyupspor, a club in Turkiye’s top Super Lig division.
Prosecutors did not identify the other 26 players suspected of bets involving their own teams, but said Mert Hakan Yandas, who plays for Fenerbahce, another major Istanbul club, had placed bets through someone else’s account.
The prosecutor’s office said police had so far detained 35 of the 46 people named in the arrest order. Five were known to be currently abroad, it said.
- Zero goal attempts -
Two club presidents were among those targeted by the order for “attempting to influence the outcome” of a match between their two third-division teams in the 2023-2024 season, the statement said.
The match had caught the attention of investigators because neither side had even made one attempt to score a goal, Turkish media reported, with several newspapers saying that was where the entire investigation began.
Six other suspects, one of them a player, are accused of conspiring to influence the result of a second-division clash between Umraniyespor and Giresunspor in December 2023.
A first-division referee, the ex-president of second-division side Adana Demirspor, and a well-known football commentator and his wife were also targeted for “suspect financial transactions” in their bank accounts.
So far, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) — which has said it wants to “clean up” the beautiful game in Turkiye — has suspended more than 1,000 players, 25 of them from the Super Lig, with the sanctions ranging from 45 days to 12 months.
Only one was a foreign national — Konyaspor’s Senegalese winger Alassane Ndao, who was suspended for 12 months.
In October, the TFF suspended nearly 150 referees for betting on matches, all of whom have since been dismissed.
