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ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP · BUDAPEST 2026 · TRACK

Men's 1500 metres prize money

Josh Kerr won the men's 1500 metres at the 2026 Ultimate Championship in 3:29.35 and took $150,000. Second was worth $75,000 and third $40,000, so the final paid $265,000 across its published places.

Thirteen athletes lined up in the final, from eight countries. One of them did not record a mark. The championship put up $10,000,000 in all and pays every athlete in it out of that, so the athletes below third were paid too, at rates World Athletics has not published.

THE WINNER TOOK $150,000
THIS FINAL PAID $265,000
IN THE FINAL 13
COUNTRIES 8
PLACES PAID 3

The final

Budapest, 11 to 13 September 2026

$265,000 paid
The men's 1500 metres final at the 2026 Ultimate Championship, with what each place paid.
POS ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK PRIZE
1 Josh Kerr Great Britain GBR 3:29.35 $150,000
2 Cameron Myers Australia AUS 3:29.68 $75,000
3 Hobbs Kessler United States USA 3:30.73 $40,000
4 Cole Hocker United States USA 3:30.74 —
5 Yared Nuguse United States USA 3:30.76 —
6 Azeddine Habz France FRA 3:30.96 —
7 Ethan Strand United States USA 3:31.30 —
8 Timothy Cheruiyot Kenya KEN 3:31.47 —
9 Jake Wightman Great Britain GBR 3:31.56 —
10 Phanuel Koech Kenya KEN 3:31.77 —
11 Robert Farken Germany GER 3:32.90 —
12 Isaac Nader Portugal POR 3:39.54 —
— Jakob Ingebrigtsen Norway NOR DNS —
13 finalists 8 countries — $265,000
Josh Kerr $150k Cameron Myers $75k Hobbs Kessler $40k

Every individual event at the championship pays the same $265,000 across three places, so this chart is the card rather than anything particular to the men's 1500 metres. What it shows is the shape of it: the winner takes 57% of what the event pays out. Below that the championship still pays. $10,000,000 went in and $7,090,000 of it is on the published card, so the athletes who finished outside the places above were paid out of the rest.

What the podium earns the rest of the year

The same athletes on the Diamond League money list

3 of 3
What the athletes paid in this final have earned across the Diamond League.
ATHLETE BUDAPEST DL STARTS DL WINS DIAMOND LEAGUE
Josh Kerr Great Britain $150,000 10 2 $56,000
Cameron Myers Australia $75,000 12 2 $105,500
Hobbs Kessler United States $40,000 12 0 $18,000

One afternoon in Budapest against careers of Diamond League meetings: the series pays eight places, fifteen times a summer, at a fraction of these rates, which is what makes the $150,000 here the biggest single cheque in the sport.

Frequently asked questions

How much did the men's 1500 metres pay at the 2026 Ultimate Championship?

$265,000: $150,000 to Josh Kerr, $75,000 for second and $40,000 for third.

Who won the men's 1500 metres in Budapest?

Josh Kerr, in 3:29.35, for $150,000. Thirteen athletes lined up in the final from eight countries, and twelve finished with a mark.

What did second and third pay?

$75,000 and $40,000. The same three figures cover every individual event at the championship, so this final paid exactly what every other one did.

How many places does the Ultimate Championship pay?

Three in an individual event, out of a $10,000,000 pot that every athlete in the championship takes a share of. Across all 28 events that published card accounts for $7,090,000, and the $2,910,000 below it is not broken down anywhere.

Where to next

The rest of the championship

Ultimate Championship prize money holds all 28 events, the 76 athletes who were paid and the $10,000,000 that was put up. Diamond League prize money is the series most of this field races all summer. The senior men's race at the World Cross Country Championships is where this distance goes in the winter. It has paid $280,000 across two championships, $30,000 to win, and a second ladder the same size again to the federations behind the first six countries in the team standing.

Every other event in Budapest