Enhanced Games swimmer ’breaks world record’

Saturday, 24 May 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Gkolomeev sets ‘world record’ time in behind-closed-doors time trial in North Carolina in February

The Enhanced Games – a controversial new event which promotes banned performance-enhancing drugs – says one of its athletes has beaten a long-standing world record.

Organisers said Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev swam 20.89 seconds in a 50m freestyle time trial in the US in February, 0.02 seconds quicker than the world record set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in 2009.

Gkolomeev, who finished fifth at the 2024 Olympics in 21.59, began taking banned substances after signing up for the Enhanced Games in January.

At a glitzy launch in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the Enhanced Games announced the city as the host of its inaugural event from 21-24 May 2026.

The Enhanced Games are planned to be an annual competition, initially comprising short-distance swimming, sprinting and weightlifting, where participants will use drugs banned from elite sport.

It has been criticised for endangering athletes’ health and undermining fair play.

However, it has also attracted heavyweight backing from a venture capital fund headed up by Donald Trump Jr., the US president’s son, and billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel.

For his ‘world record’ in North Carolina, USA, 31-year-old Gkolomeev was wearing a full-length polyurethane ‘supersuit’, which was banned from competition by swimming authorities a few weeks after Cielo set the world record in one.

However, in another attempt in April, Gkolomeev swam 21.03 in textile ‘jammer’ shorts, which comply with current World Aquatic regulations.

That time is 0.01 seconds faster than anyone has gone without the aid of ‘supersuits’, beating a mark set by American nine-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel.

The Enhanced Games say the two times are legitimate, with Gkolomeev’s swims recorded using the same timing equipment deployed at the Olympics, staged at a certified pool which has hosted the past four US Open events, and overseen by experienced officials.

Neither mark will be recognised by World Aquatics.

“The Enhanced Games are not a sporting competition built on universal values like honesty, fairness and equity: they are a circus, built on shortcuts,” read a statement from swimming’s world governing body.

“The enduring power of athletes to serve as role models for children and adults alike relies on their talent, hard work, respect and friendship. That’s what we see in our champions and in our competitions, and that’s what we’ll continue to showcase.”

Gkolomeev received a $ 1 million prize for beating a world record time, an incentive that the Enhanced Games have used to lure athletes since being was founded by Australian entrepreneur and lawyer Aron D’Souza in 2023.

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