{"id":602891,"date":"2026-05-25T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602891\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:34:08","slug":"enhanced-games-claim-we-changed-the-world-but-only-one-record-broken-and-three-clean-athletes-win-enhanced-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602891\/","title":{"rendered":"Enhanced Games claim \u2018we changed the world\u2019 but only one record broken and three clean athletes win | Enhanced Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

They promised multiple world records. To redefine what the human body is capable of with performance enhancing drugs. Even to change sport forever. But by the end of the inaugural Enhanced Games<\/a> in Las Vegas organisers were left with one abiding emotion. Relief.<\/p>\n

Only in the final event of the night, after more than five hours of competition, could they lay claim to having gone quicker than an official world record as Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev swam 20.81sec in the men\u2019s 50m freestyle.<\/p>\n

That was just 0.07s quicker than the time set by the Australian Cameron McEvoy<\/a> in March. But it allowed organisers to put a gloss on a night that was glitzy but lacked the excitement and records they had forecast.<\/p>\n

Of course Gkolomeev\u2019s record will not count officially, given that he was wearing a special skinsuit that is outlawed in elite sport and was also doping. But that didn\u2019t stop Enhanced Games\u2019 CEO Maximilian Martin bowing in relief at Gkolomeev\u2019s feet and claiming victory over the doubters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have arrived in mainstream culture,\u201d Martin claimed. \u201cWe are here to stay. We have changed the world tonight.\u201d Organisers have made several crazy claims ever since the Enhanced Games were launched in 2023. This, though, must surely count as the wildest.<\/p>\n

However Martin wasn\u2019t finished yet. \u201cWith the power of enhancements we can prove we are the best we can ever think of and you are living proof of that,\u201d he told a passionate crowd of fitness influences and biotech investors. \u201cFor the last three days Enhanced took over the internet. Enhanced is culture. And now people can also get enhanced and be the best they have ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the vast majority of the 42 competing sprinters, swimmers and weightlifters were taking banned substances such as testosterone, EPO and anabolic steroids, three athletes who were competing clean also won.<\/p>\n

The Paris silver medallist Fred Kerley was especially spicy after winning the men\u2019s 100m, telling his rivals: \u201cMan, they need to do better than that. They need to work a little bit harder, get on that shit a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Tristan Evelyn, who was also competing here as a drug-free athlete, won the women\u2019s 100m in a very modest time of 11.25sec and then said: \u201cThis proves that winning takes more than chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tristan Evelyn, of Barbados, centre, celebrates as she wins the women\u2019s 100m final while racing clean in Las Vegas. Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the message organisers wanted to impart. In between events, the giant screen told spectators what the athletes were taking. \u201c90.5% testosterone esters. 78.6% human growth hormone. 61.9% stimulants. EPO 40.5%.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Kerley and Evelyn left Las Vegas $250,000 (\u00a3185,000) richer, as did a third clean athlete, Hunter Armstrong of Australia, who won the men\u2019s 50m backstroke event.<\/p>\n

Before Gkolomeev\u2019s performance all the hype and promises about the most controversial sporting event of the century appeared to be crashing down with an almighty thud. Five hours in, several world record attempts had come and gone. And even Thor Bjornsson, the 6ft 7in Icelandic strongman who stars in Game of Thrones, was unable to shift the mood as he failed to beat his own deadlift best of 510kg.<\/p>\n

How he tried though. First he flinched as the smelling salts were snorted. Then as the bar was raised above the ankles, and towards the knees, he pushed and pushed. But it refused to budge any more.<\/p>\n

Organisers had planned to kick things off with a bang with Beatriz Pir\u00f3n of the Dominican Republic lifting 100kg in the women\u2019s snatch to surpass the current world record in her weight class. But she fell short. And so did plenty of others.<\/p>\n

Any event that allows athletes to dope with outlawed drugs, and permits swimmers to use banned skinsuits, is hardly going to be suffused with corinthian spirit. But the extent organisers were prepared to rip up the rulebook became clear after Canada\u2019s Boady Santavy failed to lift more than the world snatch record on his three permitted lifts.<\/p>\n

At that point the PA suddenly piped up. \u201cLadies and gentleman, we have a surprise for you. We\u2019re going to give Boady one more chance!\u201d<\/p>\n

It had a whiff of a school sports day about it: you\u2019ve failed, but let\u2019s have another go. It didn\u2019t work. Soon after, the US lifter Wesley Kitts was also falling short, much to the delight of some on the Enhanced Games\u2019 YouTube site. \u201cMake Steroids Great Again,\u201d wrote one.<\/p>\n

Boady Santavy, of Canada, reacts after an unsuccessful lift during the weightlifting event but the Enhanced Games gave him an extra go. Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/p>\n

Between the action, the giant screen pumped out music and interviews with the athletes, including Britain\u2019s Ben Proud, who left $375,000 (\u00a3278,000) richer after winning the 50m fly and coming second in the 50m freestyle. \u201cWhen I heard about the Enhanced Games I felt I had got a lottery ticket,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought I could get a good life out of this. Boom! I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

His partner, Emily Barclay, who won the British 2019 championships but has never competed in the Olympics, also won $375,000 (\u00a3278,000) after winning the women\u2019s 50m freestyle and then coming second in the 100m.<\/p>\n

Despite the underwhelming results, Martin has promised that the Enhanced Games will be back and better next year. \u201cTonight we did expect a few more world records but this is live sports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Organisers say that around 250,000 people watched the event live on YouTube. How many of those then bought the supplements and testosterone creams on Enhanced\u2019s website is less clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They promised multiple world records. To redefine what the human body is capable of with performance enhancing drugs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-602891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}