Updated ,first published
Las Vegas: World record holder Cam McEvoy has delivered a subtle sledge at the drug-fuelled swimmers competing at the Enhanced Games after Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev pocketed $2.1 million for just 67 seconds of racing and James Magnussen finished last in both his events.
It didn’t take long for Magnussen, who has been taking performance-enhancing drugs, to fire back at his former Australian teammate and the reigning Olympic champion, declaring: “Cam’s sitting at home talking about us. We’re not talking about Cam.”
Enhanced Games organisers narrowly avoided complete embarrassment on Sunday night in Las Vegas when Gkolomeev, in the final event of the night after no “world records” had fallen, clocked 20.81 seconds in the 50m freestyle.
While that time was quicker than McEvoy’s official world record of 20.88, set in March, the swim will not be ratified because it was achieved with banned substances in Gkolomeev’s system and while wearing a suit that provided a significant advantage.
Gkolomeev’s time will carry no legitimacy in elite swimming circles, but his teammates and Enhanced Games chief executive Max Martin celebrated as though it were a genuine world record.
After winning the 100m freestyle earlier in the day, Gkolomeev went 0.08 seconds faster than the mark he posted last year, which also made him an instant millionaire through the lucrative prizemoney on offer from the Enhanced Games — an organisation condemned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee as “utterly irresponsible and immoral”.
Medical professionals have warned about the potential long-term effects of taking performance-enhancing substances, but the short-term sugar will hit the bank accounts of athletes who competed at a hi-tech venue at Resorts World featuring a pool, running track and weightlifting arena.
With two $US250,000 race wins and a further $US1 million world-record bonus, Gkolomeev partied into the Vegas night $2.1 million richer in Australian dollars.
Shortly after the 50m race, in which Magnussen finished fourth in 22.35 seconds – his second last-placed finish of the night – McEvoy posted a meme of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
“Seriously? That’s all you got!” read the caption attached with the original meme.
Had McEvoy pulled on one of the banned supersuits being used in Vegas, there is every chance he would have gone quicker than Gkolomeev, even without taking undisclosed performance-enhancing substances.
Asked about McEvoy’s post, which did not directly reference any swimmer, Magnussen said the reaction proved the event was generating interest.
“I think Enhanced as a movement … is going to be one of the biggest brands in the world and I think Australians deserve access,” Magnussen told this masthead. “It was always going to be the most unorthodox show anyone had seen. It’s created such a stir. It was a show, man.
“I was quietly relieved when I touched the wall and looked up and saw a world record. To be back up on the blocks again was like super surreal. So happy to be a part of the first Games. You know going into a meet where you’re at. I knew I wasn’t going to be at world record pace. I’m always optimistic.”
On a night when predictions of world records tumbling failed to materialise, clean athletes outperformed expectations.
The men’s and women’s 100m sprint titles were both won by non-enhanced athletes in Fred Kerley and Tristan Evelyn, while American swimmer Hunter Armstrong delivered a moral victory for clean sport by winning the 50m backstroke and coming second in the 100m freestyle – 1.35 seconds ahead of Magnussen – to collect $US375,000 ($525,000) overall.
Armstrong, a two-time Olympic relay gold medallist, signed with the Enhanced Games after financial struggles following the loss of a sponsor after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
His latest payday dwarfs anything he would ordinarily earn in traditional swimming. Armstrong, who says he has undergone 11 drug tests since joining the Enhanced Games — including more than six in Vegas alone — still hopes to compete at a home Olympics in 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“To do it clean … is incredible,” Armstrong said. “I’m going to continue staying clean, continue doing the best that I can at being a good role model. Hopefully come 2028 I will be able to stand on that podium on home soil.”
Kerley’s winning time of 9.97 seconds in the 100m final — after two false starts — was well outside both his personal best of 9.76 and Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58. He clocked 9.93 seconds in the heats.
“They’ve got to do better than that,” Kerley said. “They need to train a little harder.”
Third-placed Marvin Bracy-Williams didn’t see the funny side of Kerley’s remarks.
“I don’t like that. He’s disrespecting the whole reason we’re here,” Bracy-Williams said. “He didn’t do nothing spectacular. He’s been advertising for a world record. I got something for him when I see him.”
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Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.