United States Take First Ultimate Mixed 4x100m Title

The United States opened the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship with a win. Ronnie Baker, Anavia Battle, Courtney Lindsey and Kayla White took the mixed 4x100m relay in Budapest, becoming the event's first champions. Their time of 39.64 was the second-fastest in history.

An anchor leg two hundredths from the world record

Baker gave the team a strong start before handing to Battle. Jamaica stayed close through the first half, driven by Ackeem Blake and Tina Clayton.

Lindsey held the American lead on the third leg and passed to White. Her anchor run carried the United States home at the National Athletics Centre, just 0.02 short of the world record Jamaica had set earlier in the year.

Jamaica finished second in 39.72, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland third in 40.26. Canada and Spain followed close behind.

Turning the tables on the World Relays winners

Four months earlier, the same nation had placed a distant third behind Jamaica at the World Athletics Relays. In Budapest the order reversed. The mixed 4x100m is a new discipline that reaches the World Championships in 2027 and the Olympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles.

"It's really exciting to be the first ever Ultimate champions," Ronnie Baker told reporters afterwards. "The crowd is amazing and I really love the event itself, and the trophy is amazing. But it's also pretty heavy so I will need to keep it away from my kid."

The Ultimate Championship began with an American name on its first roll of honour. For a new event still finding its place, that is a fitting start.