Only One Record ‘Broken’ by Doped Athletes at Inaugural Enhanced Games in Vegas
Posted on: May 25, 2026, 12:26h.
Last updated on: May 25, 2026, 12:31h.
- Only one world record was “broken” at the inaugural Enhanced Games on Sunday, despite attempts by dozens of doped sprinters, swimmers and weightlifters
- Kristian Gkolomeev’s 20.81 seconds in the 50m freestyle beat the official world record but won’t be recognized due to his banned suit and open doping
- Ironically, three clean athletes — Fred Kerley, Tristan Evelyn, and Hunter Armstrong — won major events and walked away with $250,000 each
Though most bodies were enhanced at Resorts World Las Vegas on Sunday night, May 24, the results of the inaugural Enhanced Games were not. The five-hour circus promised a night of world-record shattering by chemically boosted athletes. By the time it was over, however, only a single world best was achieved.
Not until the program’s final event did Greek sprinter‑turned‑swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev make unofficial history by clocking 20.81 seconds in the men’s 50‑meter freestyle. His time was 0.07 seconds faster than Australian Olympian Cameron McEvoy’s officially recognized world record of 20.88, set in March 2024.
Because Gkolomeev competed in a non‑legal performance skinsuit and in a forum that openly permitted doping, however, his record will not be recognized by World Aquatics or any other governing body.
Until that point, more than 40 athletes — most on performance-enhancing drugs — tried their damnedest to set new sprinting, swimming, and weightlifting world records and failed. The attempts included a heavily promoted opening lift by Dominican weightlifter Beatriz Pirón, who aimed to surpass the women’s snatch world record in her weight class but fell short.
Ironically, some of Sunday’s biggest winners were athletes who competed 100% clean. U.S. sprinter Fred Kerley — the 2021 world 100‑meter champion and 2024 Olympic silver medalist — won the men’s 100 meters and collected $250,000 with no performance enhancements.
Barbados sprinter Tristan Evelyn won the women’s 100 meters in 11.25 seconds, telling reporters afterward: “This proves that winning takes more than chemistry.”
Clean U.S. swimmer Hunter Armstrong also earned $250,000 after winning the men’s 50‑meter backstroke.
Still, Enhanced Games founder and CEO Aron D’Souza declared his experiment a triumph.
“We have arrived in mainstream culture,” he told a crowd heavy with fitness influencers and biotech investors. “We are here to stay!”
Juicing for Dollars
D’Souza (who calls himself Maximilian Martin) hatched the idea for the Enhanced Games in 2023 as a $1 million prize sideshow and protest against the strict prohibitions of the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency.
Every substance banned in traditional sport — including testosterone, EPO, anabolic steroids, and human growth hormone — is welcome in D’Souza’s games.
The livestream drew approximately 250,000 viewers on the Enhanced Games’ YouTube channel, where supplements and enhancement products were heavily hawked.
Despite the underwhelming record count and the clean winners, D’Souza vowed the Enhanced Games would return in 2027.
“This is live sport,” he said. “We expected more world records, but this is only the beginning.”
No comments yet