Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev became the only athlete to break a world record at the controversial Enhanced Games in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 24, 2026.
Competing in a synthetic "supersuit" banned by the Olympics, Gkolomeev clocked 20.81 seconds in the men's 50-meter freestyle final, surpassing the official mark of 20.88 seconds held by Australia's Cameron McEvoy.
Because the event allowed participants to use performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision, international swimming governing bodies will not recognize the time.
"It was a great race...
I got it," said Gkolomeev, a former Olympic finalist who also won the 100-meter freestyle in 46.60 seconds.
The victory earned him a $250,000 first-place prize and a $1 million bonus for the unofficial swimming benchmark.
"Another million, I’m going to say it’s not bad at all," said Gkolomeev, who added, "Maybe next year I'll break it again."
Co-founder Max Martin acknowledged that organizers expected more records to fall due to a sophisticated doping regime.
"I think tonight, yes, we did expect a few more world records to happen.
But at the end of the day, this is live sports, and this is always something that you can never plan for," Martin told AFP.
He noted that unforeseen injuries impacted the lineup during the competition.
Other swimmers narrowly missed world marks, including Britain's Ben Proud, who won the 50m butterfly in 22.32 seconds, missing the record by 0.05 seconds.
"We all know what we came for. And that's world records.
And so, to be that agonizingly close, it's frustrating," said Proud, a Paris 2024 silver medalist.
Despite widespread use of testosterone and anabolic steroids among the 42 competitors, several clean athletes also secured victories.
American swimmer Hunter Armstrong won the men's 50m backstroke in 24.21 seconds, defeating two enhanced rivals, while unenhanced sprinters Fred Kerley and Tristan Evelyn won their respective 100-meter dash events.
"Man, they got to do better than that. They need to train a little harder.
Get on that shit a little bit more," joked Kerley, a former 100m world champion currently serving a suspension for missing drug tests.
In weightlifting, multiple athletes failed to set new benchmarks despite extra attempts.
"Man, if I had about four more weeks (in training) I’d say I’d have had a good shot at it," said Wesley Kitts, who fell short alongside Beatriz Piron and Boady Santavy.
The event, backed by investors Donald Trump Jr. and billionaire Peter Thiel, drew sharp condemnation from health experts who warned that the substances used could cause fatal heart, liver, and kidney complications.
