By Lori Ewing
BUDAPEST, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won the men’s 5,000 metres, while fellow Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine captured the women’s high jump crown as the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship got underway on Friday in Budapest.
• The prize pot of $10 million is the richest in athletics, with winners pocketing $150,000. Runners-up win $75,000, with $40,000 awarded for third. The victorious relay teams split a pot of $80,000.
• Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen won with a late surge, clocking 12 minutes 59.24 seconds just seven months after undergoing Achilles surgery.
• Mahuchikh of Ukraine soared 1.99 metres to win the women’s high jump.
• Germany’s Merlin Hummel won the hammer throw with 81.46 metres. Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg was stung by the rule, unique to this event, that guarantees athletes only two throws in a first round. The Canadian fouled on both of his attempts.
• The United States edged Jamaica by 0.08 seconds to win the mixed 4x100m relay.
• Veronica Vancardo took a nasty spill in the women’s 800m semi-final that was won by Briton Keely Hodgkinson. “I was talking with Veronica, who fell unfortunately. She still has her teeth and she will be ok. Actually, this is one of my worst nightmares but this is sport and it happens sometimes.”
• The three-day Ultimate Championship continues on Saturday.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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