Blink and you'll miss something!

The women's pole vault competition is just kicking off, and now the women's 400m hurdles semi-finals are getting under way.

One of the favourites for this title, Emma Zapletalova, lives up to that billing in style, taking a dominant victory in 52.93 seconds.

American world-leader Anna Cockrell goes in the second semi-final.

Steve Backley
Two-time world and Olympic javelin silver medallist on BBC Two

Haruka Kitaguchi just has this ability to bring it when it matters.

She won her first world title in this stadium in 2023, set her on the path for her Olympic gold in 2024.

It gives her this sense of ownership - a world title in 2023, possibly an Ultimate title in 2026?

Steve Cram
Athletics commentator on BBC Two

When you're Mark English and you're Djamel Sedjati and you've got that in your pocket, you can just wait and wait...

Mark was good, Sedjati was just doing enough down that home straight, was looking behind him, seeing if there was any danger of the others catching.

They made a late charge but they were never going to make it into that top four.

What did you make of everything you saw during the action on Friday night?

A fan of the innovations, or is it not really for you?

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Image source, Getty Images

As win percentages flashed up on screen, and sparklers lit up the dark backdrop as athletes posed with their trophies, athletics attempted to take its first steps in a brand new direction.

On Thursday, the world's top athletes had arrived for the championship at a red carpet event. On Friday, they emerged to light shows and dramatic music.

The appearance of the arena was immediately striking, with an infield painted black with the intention of directing the audience's focus to the illuminated live action, and a bright pink sandpit among the features.

On TV, augmented reality was used to display athlete headshots, win probabilities and projected finishing positions for each event.

For their crowning moment, athletes lifted their trophy from a plinth beside their competition area before heading to a winners' enclosure in the stands where they joined the likes of Usain Bolt and Noah Lyles.

Image source, Getty Images

Emma Middleton
BBC Sport in Budapest

I caught up with fans as they left the stadium in Budapest yesterday evening, and I have to say, there was a buzz in the air.

"Electric" and "vibrant" was how fans described the atmosphere to me.

"The jeopardy of having only a semi-final and final gets everyone excited from the get-go."

Another said: "I see what World Athletics is doing to try and bring in a lot of new things to the track and field, and we enjoyed it."

Image source, BBC Sport

Max Burgin, forced to withdraw before the European final because of injury, assets himself at the front alongside Italy's Francesco Pernici.

It's all very tight, but Ben Pattison is already being left behind as the pace winds up...

Ah, and Burgin fades out of the qualification places too - but still runs a fast time despite his recent issues.

Ireland's European champion Mark English wins it in one minute 43.74 seconds.

Almost a bit of a shock in the first men's 800m semi-final as Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi manages to grab the fourth and final qualification place in tomorrow's final.

American Brandon Miller takes the win in one minute 43.86 seconds.

Now it's time for Max Burgin and Ben Pattison to try and force their way into the top four.

Japan's Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi has already asserted herself at the top of the leaderboard in the women's javelin final.

The 28-year-old throws a national record 68.92m on her second attempt, responding to Chinese teenager Ziyi Yan's impressive 68.05m opener.

Over to the men's 800m semi-finals now on the track.

Kenya's Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi is in the first, with Great Britain's Max Burgin and Ben Pattison battling to be in the top-four paces in the second race.

Image source, Getty Images

A bright pink sandpit and a pitch black infield. A brand new trophy and historic prize money. The World Athletics Ultimate Championship is posed as something different in the sport, but some things stay the same - pole vault star Armand Duplantis taking centre stage.

As the inaugural competition's official song, which two-time Olympic champion Duplantis wrote and recorded, was played to a sell-out crowd of more than 20,000, all eyes fell on the Swedish 26-year-old as, yet again, it was just him against the world record.

Duplantis had already secured the title of inaugural champion in the event he has long dominated, and his $150,000 (£110,000) slice of the record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer.

While he was unable to clear 6.32m and set the 16th world record of his remarkable career, an entertaining battle with Greek challenger Emmanouil Karalis had provided the blockbuster finale to the opening night of action in Budapest.

"I approached this event with a combination of a lot of nerves and excitement," said Duplantis.

"This was a missing piece for me to become the ultimate champion."

Paula Radcliffe
Former women's marathon world record holder on BBC Two

Kebinatshipi flew out. He did just slightly overcook - very very slightly - and then just ran into the build-up of fatigue in those final strides and wasn't quite able to maintain his momentum.

He was still a long way clear.

Steve Cram
Athletics commentator on BBC Two

Collen Kebinatshipi shakes his head, I think he thought he was going to get close to that world record.

It's a new national record, only by a hundredth of a second.

Until about 50m, I thought there was a world record on the cards there.

What a run!

Collen Kebinatshipi clocks the joint-fifth fastest time in history as he crosses the line in 43.39 seconds.

He doesn't look pleased. He fancied the world record there!

A trophy and $150,000 will have to do.

Matthew Hudson-Smith went out quick in pursuit but fades to fifth in 44.28.

Image source, Getty Images

Away they go!

World champion Collen Kebinatshipi has gone out HARD.

Matthew Hudson-Smith comes off the final bend in second...

Image source, Getty Images

Can the king of Europe become the Ultimate champion?

Fresh from becoming the most decorated man in the history of the European Athletics Championships, Matthew Hudson-Smith is aiming to translate continental dominance into global glory this evening.

The 31-year-old celebrated the third European 400m title of his illustrious career, and eighth medal at the championships overall, on his childhood track in Birmingham in an emotional, full-circle moment last month.

Having qualified in second behind Jacory Patterson in the faster of the two semi-finals yesterday, Hudson-Smith bids for glory from lane five next.

Image source, Getty Images

This athletics season was set to be the first since the pandemic which did not culminate in an Olympic Games or World Championships.

To bridge that gap, the sport's governing body has devised a new competition: The World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

Across three days of competition in Budapest the world's top athletes will compete in an innovative format for record prize money and a new title.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe hopes the championship can be used as an "incubator for change" which will shape the future of the sport's established major events.

"It is an attempt to just start experimenting a bit and innovating, with an event that will determine who really is the best of the best," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told BBC Sport.

"There's no guarantee we're going get everything right, and no guarantee that everything is going to work."

Steve Cram
Athletics commentator on BBC Two

Add that to the long list of wins for Paulino.

Long season but she is so good, so consistent.

She can run quicker times but that was good enough tonight.