Jefferson-Wooden, Bednarek capture Ultimate wins and could have $300,000 weekends

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ran a world-leading 10.62 seconds, blowing away Julien Alfred in the 100 meters at the Ultimate Championship on Saturday and winning the tiebreaker in a three-week, best-of-three series between the reigning Olympic and world champions.

Jefferson-Wooden's time edged out this year's previous best time — held by University of Georgia's Adaejah Hodge — by .01 seconds and fell short of her own personal best by the same .01. The win was good for $150,000, top prize for all the first-place finishers this week in Budapest.

A few minutes after her win, Kenny Bednarek sprung an upset in the men's 100, beating Olympic champion Oblique Seville to win $150,000 of his own. Bednarek won in 9.85 and has a chance for another first prize Sunday, where he's a favorite in the 200 meters.

Jefferson-Wooden's training partner, Sha'Carri Richardson, finished third on the same track in Budapest where she won world championships three years ago.

This one wasn't much of a contest. Jefferson-Wooden, who took the worlds last year, beat the Olympic champ by .12.

The showdown between the women who came in tied for the second-fastest time this year was the sort of thing track was hoping for when it came up with the idea for these championships in a sport where top sprinters often find ways to avoid each other.

In this one, on a cool night in Budapest in front of a packed crowd, they got the matchup, even if Jefferson-Wooden ended the drama early.

Other winners Saturday included:

— Sandi Morris, who has five silver medals and no golds from Olympics and worlds dating to 2016, but broke through with a pole vault win that won't yield a medal but meant a lot nonetheless.

— Collen Kebinatshipi, who darted to a big lead early in the 400 final, briefly flirted with the world record (43.03) and ran away from the pack in 43.39 to remind the world of how big a force Botswana will be in the sprint game heading in to the LA Olympics.

“My dream is just to see more guys coming up and backing us up so we can keep the streak going,” said Kebinatshipi, who teamed with Letsile Tebogo to win the 4x400 relay at worlds last year.

— Aurdrey Werro in the women's 800 for her third straight win in a rivalry with Britain's Keely Hodgkinson. Femke Broeders-Bol, who moved to this race from the hurdles, finished third.

— Poland's Klaudia Kazimerska, who backed up her win at the Diamond League final last week with an ultimate championship, beating Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell in a race missing Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon.

“I'm going to go on vacation now,” Kazimerska said when asked what she would do with the money. “Or, I don't know. I'm going to invest my money. I try to be responsible.”

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