Mississippi State will send five athletes to the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, according to the university. The Bulldogs will compete in three events, representing five nations, and have the most male athletes of any Division I school at the competition, the school said.
Two Bulldogs, Marco Arop and Navasky Anderson, will compete in the men’s 800 meters. Arop, a silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Anderson, the 2026 Commonwealth Games champion, are among the six schools with multiple athletes in the same men’s event. Arop’s best time this season is 1:41.84, and Anderson has a season-best of 1:43.62.
In the men’s javelin, two Bulldogs, Navasky Anderson and Curtis Thompson, will compete in the final round. Anderson holds the Jamaican national record at 1:42.76, while Thompson ranks fourth in the world with a season-best throw of 87.59 meters. Both are former NCAA champions and have multiple U.S. and international titles.
Lee Eppie will open the Bulldogs’ participation in the meet with the men’s 400 meters on Sept. 11. He ran a season-best 44.50 at the Diamond League meet in Brussels and is currently ranked 12th in the world. The final for the 400 meters is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13.
The men’s 800 meters semifinals are set for Saturday, Sept. 12, with the final on Sept. 13. Arop and Anderson will race in the semifinals on Saturday. The men’s javelin final will be held on Sept. 13 at 11:13 a.m.
Mississippi State’s athletes are part of a field that includes top-ranked international competitors, with the championship featuring only the top 16 athletes in track events and the top eight in field events, based on World Rankings. For more updates, follow Mississippi State track and field on X, Facebook, and Instagram by searching “HailStateTF.”
