Jereem “The Dream” Richards is among the contenders for the Men’s 400 metres title at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary.Fresh off his 43.68 seconds national record run in finishing second to Botswana’s Collen Kebinatshipi (43.40) at the Wanda Diamond League Final last week, Richards is well-placed to challenge for the attractive trophy on offer in Saturday’s Ultimate Championship final. The Trinidad and Tobago track star, however, must first successfully negotiate the qualifying round tomorrow.Seventeen men will run in two heats, battling for eight championship race berths. Heat one is scheduled for 1.19 p.m. (T&T time).Kebinatshipi heads the entry list with his 43.40 season’s best run. Richards is next with the 43.68 T&T record.Americans Jacory Patterson and Rai Benjamin are third and fourth, respectively, at 43.78 and 43.83. South Africa’s Zakithi Nene is fifth with a 43.89 run, followed by American Chris Bailey (43.97) and Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga (44.02). Rounding out the top eight on the entry list is Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith (44.09).Richards qualified for the Ultimate Championship by virtue of his current world ranking. Richards is fifth on the Men’s 400 ranking list. Kebinatshipi is first, Nene second, Patterson third and Benjamin fourth. With Olympic and world champions qualifying automatically, Kebinatshipi is in Budapest on the strength of his 2025 World Athletics Championship title.Keshorn Walcott is also an “Ultimate” automatic qualifier, his world title success last year earning him a spot in Sunday’s Men’s javelin. The T&T thrower will square off against seven men for the coveted trophy.The entry list is headed by Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage, the 2026 world leader at 92.62 metres. German Julian Weber is second with a 90.40 throw, with American Curtis Thompson third at 87.59.Walcott is sixth, thanks to the 83.99 season’s best that earned him Wanda Diamond League Final bronze last Saturday.Pakistan’s reigning Olympic champion, Arshad Nadeem is eighth at 78.63.Walcott is fifth on the 2026 Men’s javelin world ranking list. Pathirage is ranked first, Grenadian Anderson Peters second, Weber third, Thompson fourth and Nadeem tenth.The Ultimate Championship, according to a World Athletics press release, “is designed to settle the debate over who is the best of the best—with world champions, Olympic champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s top-ranked athletes all striving to be crowned the champion of champions.”