Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek have been training partners in Central Florida for three years, and now they share a new honor: both are World Ultimate champions in the 100m. Jefferson-Wooden continued her dominance as a sprint star, while Bednarek secured the most significant victory of his career at the debut World Ultimate Championship held in Budapest.

Jefferson-Wooden ran 10.62 seconds, just one hundredth shy of her personal best from her 2025 World title win. She described Saturday’s performance as her best 100m race ever, overcoming cooler conditions and a .2 meter/second headwind compared to a .3 tailwind in the 2025 Worlds.

“When I got to that start line today, I told myself that this is your moment and you need to stand in it,” Jefferson-Wooden said to NBC Sports’ Lewis Johnson. She added that when the gun went off, she focused on executing like her life depended on it.

Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, finished second in 10.74, followed by 2024 Olympic silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson with a time of 10.76.

Jefferson-Wooden, with only one defeat in the 100m since winning bronze at the Paris Games, is the fourth-fastest woman ever, trailing only American Florence Griffith Joyner and Jamaicans Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Bednarek, with a record of two Olympic silvers in the 200m, completed the 100m in 9.85 seconds. He surpassed Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, the 2025 World champion, by a margin of five hundredths.

They competed without 2024 Olympic 100m gold medalist Noah Lyles, sidelined due to injury but holding the fastest time of 2026 at 9.79 seconds.

“It’s more of a relief thing just because silver, silver, silver (in the 200m) over the few years,” said Bednarek, also known as Kung Fu Kenny. “Winning an event like this confirms I belong here.”

The Ultimate Championship continues Sunday, airing live on NBC and Peacock. It includes the men’s and women’s 200m, 400m hurdles, and the men’s 1500m.

This biennial event features Olympic gold medalists, World champions, and top-ranked athletes without country restrictions. Winners receive $150,000, part of the richest prize pool in athletics history, totaling $10 million.

Collen Kebinatshipi of Botswana ran the joint-fifth-fastest 400m — 43.39 seconds — triumphing over American Rai Benjamin, 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m hurdles.

Kebinatshipi, 2025 World champion, has broken 44 seconds six times this year, setting a record for the most sub-44-second finishes in one season.

Swiss athlete Audrey Werro capped her undefeated season by winning the women’s 800m with a time of 1:55.88, comfortably beating 2024 Olympic gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson.

Werro, 22, began as the 33rd-fastest woman by June 6. She then ran the third-, fourth-, and fifth-fastest times ever recorded since the 1983 world record.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic maintained her unbeaten streak, winning the women’s 400m in 49.07. American Sydney Levrone, the 2025 World champion, missed this season after having her daughter Savannah in July.

Sandi Morris secured her largest outdoor pole vault triumph by clearing 4.90 meters, surpassing fellow American Hana Moll, 13 years her junior.

Morris, 34, previously collected silver at the 2016 Olympics and at various World Championships.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen emerged victorious in the 5000m, overcoming two years of challenges.