The 2026 Enhanced Games promised to redefine what the human body is capable of, with the help of supervised doping.
The stage had been set for multiple world records. A revolution in sport. An event that would change what we believed was possible.
What the organisers actually got was one world record (though marginal) and three wins for clean athletes.
What Happened at the 2026 Enhanced Games?
Throughout the event, world record attempt after world record attempt came and went.
The weightlifters fell short. Thor Bjornsson – the Icelandic strongman who holds the all-time deadlift record – couldn’t beat his own best of 510kg.
Swimmer James Magnussen, who had personally guaranteed records in the pool and had been doping for almost two years in preparation for the event, finished last on two occasions.
Relief finally arrived in the closing moments when Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev clocked 20.81 in the 50m freestyle, edging past Australian Cameron McEvoy’s legitimate world record by a fairly narrow 0.07 seconds.
It won’t count officially – Gkolomeev was doping and wearing a skinsuit banned in elite sport – but it was enough for Enhanced Games CEO Maximilian Martin to bow at his feet and declare: “We have changed the world tonight.”
But is that really the case?
How the Clean Athletes Stole the Show at the Enhanced Games
Perhaps the most embarrassing subplot of the 2026 Enhanced Games was that three drug-free athletes walked away with wins, in, for the most part, pretty average times.
Fred Kerley won the men’s 100m, Tristan Evelyn won the women’s 100m, and Hunter Armstrong took the men’s 50m backstroke – all competing clean.
For an event that cost upwards of $50 million and was valued at $1.2 billion, the 2026 Enhanced Games probably wasn’t the demonstration of superior human performance that the organisers had hoped for.
CEO Maximilian Martin has since published a defence of the inaugural competition, pointing towards several athlete PBs and citing factors such as shortened enhancement protocols and the unpredictable nature of live sport.
The fact he felt compelled to do so speaks volumes about how many viewers were left feeling more than slightly underwhelmed.
