The visual identity and brand strategy for the groundbreaking
World Athletics Ultimate Championship has been revealed, with just over one year to go until the inaugural edition takes place in Budapest.
The Ultimate Championship brings together world champions, Olympic champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s best performing athletes in an epic clash of titans. It launches in Budapest in 2026, when the world’s greatest will settle the debate across three intense sessions of action from 11-13 September.
World Athletics commissioned
FutureBrand to bring the vision for this innovative event to life, developing the brand strategy, visual and verbal identity, and experience. To ground the brand in audience insight, FutureBrand explored what fundamentally drives people to engage with athletics, how those motivations are evolving, and how the competition is uniquely positioned to answer them. This led to the creation of the brand idea ‘Class of One’: a fresh focus on winning above all else, and the moments that matter most to audiences. It taps into a primal fascination with human performance and sets a new blueprint for the future of athletics.
The visual identity centres on a simple yet meaningful logo symbol: the ‘Star Flare’. Designed to be universally recognisable, the star reflects the awe, excellence and positivity of competition, while its explosive, radiating form conveys the energy, intensity and drama of athletes in pursuit of excellence. It is composed of three colliding elements, each representing one of the Ultimate Championship’s core athletics disciplines: running, jumping and throwing. Its contemporary 3D rendering and dynamic motion behaviours maximises its presence in digital channels, aligning with the progressive nature of the new competition.
The symbol enables a wide range of visual applications across a system of patterns, icons and graphics – each informed by its distinctive character. A monochromatic colour palette is complemented by vibrant gradient accents that mimic the iridescent surface of the hero symbol. Together, these elements create a visual identity that is distinctive, impactful and celebratory.
A tone of voice was developed, to work hand in hand with the visual identity. The tone of voice is based on the personality traits ‘obsessive’, ‘audacious’ and ‘dramatic’ – it is designed to give the competition a stronger voice that amplifies love for the sport and makes it more accessible to new audiences.
The project also included brand experience work – defining the Ultimate Championship’s experience principles, creating audience personas and establishing the biggest opportunities for impact across the customer journey.
World Athletics Director of Brand and Marketing Maria Ramos said: “Our goal was to create a brand that not only energises athletes and fans alike, but also stands apart through its distinctive tone, ambition and vision.
“Collaborating with FutureBrand allowed us to tap into inspiration from both within athletics and far beyond it – bringing fresh perspective and depth to everything we built.”
Maria Ramos, Director of Brand and Marketing
FutureBrand
Nick Sykes, Global CEO
Sam Hollis, Head of Strategy
Camilla Hunt, Associate Strategy Director
Danielle Smith, Design Director
James Pearce, Senior Designer
Joe Warburton, Senior Designer
Paul Silcox, ECD Brand Experience
Ed Fergusson, Motion Design Director
Claire Wilkinson, Verbal Identity Director
Eleri Cleaver, Business Partner
Matt Hinchcliffe, Business Partner
Joanna Frame, Business Director
Nicolle Ponsa Ravachi, Senior Project Manager
