The World Athletics Ultimate Championship organizers had a vision for the event in Budapest. They wanted a final with the very best athletes. But a series of late-season injuries, serious accidents, and personal time off has created major problems. Instead of having the best track and field athletes compete for a record $10 million prize, the event is now missing big names like Noah Lyles and Tara Davis-Woodhall, both out after unfortunate incidents.

Lyles’ 2026 season ended after an injury at the U.S. Championships. In an Instagram post, Lyles revealed that he had a “small strain” that restricted his training. Though their recovery plan was in place, the strain led to other issues that ended his 2026 season prematurely.

“Me and my coach have decided that I’m gonna end my 2026 season due to injury,” said Lyles in the IG video. “It’s been kind of complicated; we thought it was very simple. Unfortunately, because of the strain, it caused some things to flare up, and it’s made it hard for me to continue practicing. We decided to just end the season here; get ready for 2027, 2028, which are going to be humongous years.”

While Lyles won’t be competing in Budapest, he will still attend the Ultimate Championship, involved in behind-the-scenes work with other athletes.

At the US Championships, Lyles ran two 9.7-second sprints at the national trials, the second of which was a world-leading 9.79, before an injury ended his season. Even though he came to Hungary for work, his absence leaves the men’s 100m and 200m races without one of their biggest stars.

While his reason for absence was related to competition, for Tara Davis-Woodhall, it was an off-field incident. The Olympic champion was in a head-on collision with another car. Davis-Woodhall posted a video of the crash on her official Instagram page alongside images of her injuries. That left her with a concussion and ended her winning season before Budapest.

“After thinking it over with my team we have decided to end the 2026 season,” Davis-Woodhall wrote in an IG post. “This one hurts. I’m sad, disappointed and just hurt by all of it.

“I know this has to be part of my story. There has to be a reason for this. I’ll never question Gods path for me. I will be back. Just a hitch in my giddy-up. Thank you for loving and rooting for me. See yall soon.”

The 27-year-old American won long jump gold and was the favorite for the Budapest event, with a world-leading 7.20m mark. However, the crash forced her out of the Diamond League event in Zurich and the subsequent final in Brussels.

Despite such absences, Lyles believes that Budapest will deliver what the fans want from the world’s best athletes.

“I still think that ​this is going to be an amazing competition, and I’m excited to ​watch that. ⁠And I’m even more excited to see what the future is going to bring,” Lyles added.

The lack of athletes is not only affecting the American sprint and jump teams. It’s also hurting nations like Kenya. Faith Kipyegon, the distance queen, had a hamstring injury in May, which she announced forced her to end her season in August, leaving her out of the women’s 1,500m.

Kenya’s middle-distance team also lost Lilian Odira, who got sick after a race in Lausanne and could not compete in Budapest.

The women’s distance events already had an absence, with Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet on maternity leave all year. It leaves Kenya with no 5,000m entrant in Budapest. For a country that has always been strong in distance running, it’s hard to see the major event without its top athletes.

Track fans have also missed USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who did not compete in 2026 because of maternity leave. With her out and Netherlands’ Femke Bol moving up to the 800m, the women’s 400m hurdles lost two key runners.

These absences show the challenges of a busy track calendar. The first World Athletics Ultimate Championship was supposed to be an event with the ‘best of the best’ athletes in the world, but the lack of star power is a bit of a bump in the path for the organizers.