By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post Sports
No Olympic games, no world championships. Still, a world champion had to be crowned. So World Athletics created the Ultimate Championship, a biennial track and field invitational that features the top athletes from around the world, sporting their national colors, to crown a world champion. The inaugural event, held Sept. 11-13 in Budapest, Hungary, featured record-setting cash prizes: $150,000 for the winner of each event, $75,000 for second-place finishers, and $40,000 for third-place finishers.
Sterling's Tyus Wilson was selected as one of eight athletes to compete in the high jump. The event was broadcast Sunday on NBC. Wilson was predicted to finish fifth in the event but was unable to clear the bar at 2.17m (7 feet, 1.5 inches) for a seventh-place finish and a $12,000 paycheck.
Wilson won three KSHSAA state championships while at Sterling High School, setting the Class 2A state meet record of 7-2 in 2021. He went on to have a successful career at the University of Nebraska, and entered the Ultimate Championship as the two-time defending U.S. champion.
As a top-three finisher at the national championships in 2024, Wilson nearly qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, however his best jump of 2.27m (7-5.25) did not meet the Olympic standard of 2.33m (7-7.75). In September 2025, Wilson won his first national title by clearing 2.27m. He went on to place seventh at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Wilson has had a busy 2026 season, winning his second national title by clearing 2.29m (7-6) at the U.S. National Championships in Ithaca, New York on July 24. He has also competed in Qatar, Monaco, Poland, and Switzerland, clearing a personal best 2.30m (7-6.5) at the Monaco Athletics Festival on Aug. 5. Wilson is currently ranked No. 6 in the world in the World Athletics ratings.