Magnussen finishes last as clean swimmer wins $350,000 at Enhanced Games

Las Vegas: Australian swimmer James Magnussen has finished last in the 100m freestyle event at the Enhanced Games.

The two-time Australian Olympian, who has been taking performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision to compete in the inaugural event, touched the wall in fourth place in a time of 49.44 seconds, which is 2.34 seconds outside his personal best from 2012.

Even with the benefit of banned substances and a “supersuit”, Magnussen was no match for Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev, who won in a time of 46.6 seconds, which is 0.2 seconds outside Pan Zhanle’s world record.

Gkolomeev will take home $US250,000 ($350,000), while Magnussen will still win $US$50,000 ($70,000). He has one more event in the 50m freestyle, which begins shortly after 2pm AEST.

Magnussen wore a special gold swimming suit for the event after having signed on two years ago as the first athlete for the Enhanced Games.

The 35-year-old will take a shot at a $US1 million bonus ($1.4 million) in the 50m freestyle if he can swim faster than Cam McEvoy’s official world record of 20.88 seconds, but based on his latest performance, that is going to be a difficult ask. Gkolomeev is the hot favourite.

If anyone beats McEvoy’s time, it would not be a world record, though, because swimmers are either taking banned substances or wearing specially made swimsuits that give them an advantage.

Armstrong knocks off doping athletes

A clean swimmer from the United States has beaten athletes who have taken performance-enhancing substances to pocket $US250,000 ($350,000) at the controversial Enhanced Games.

The new sporting event, which has been slammed by the World Anti-Doping Agency and International Olympic Committee as “utterly irresponsible and immoral”, began disastrously on Sunday when its YouTube stream froze for 11 minutes after just seven minutes of action.

Once the technical issue was fixed, critics of the Enhanced Games and advocates for clean sport celebrated a small win when two-time Olympian Hunter Armstrong won the men’s 50m backstroke event.

Armstrong, a former world record holder in the event, touched the wall in a time of 24.21 seconds to edge out Ireland’s Shane Ryan (25.23), who has been one of the 36 athletes at these Games taking performance-enhancing substances under strict medical supervision.

It was 0.66 seconds outside Russian swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov’s world record.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist signed on with the Enhanced Games due to financial difficulty after his sponsor cut him following the Paris Olympics in 2024.

His latest victory has earned him significantly more money than he would have won by racing in the traditional part of the sport. Armstrong, who is still being subjected to drug tests while in Las Vegas, has stated a desire to compete at a home Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.

However, World Aquatics has threatened that any athlete who associates with the Enhanced Games won’t be able to compete in events such as world championships or the Olympics.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Armstrong said. “I’ve just felt really smooth in the water lately, and just this supersuit is crazy. This suit is game-changing.”

Armstrong also added $US125,000 ($175,000) to his prizemoney with a second-place finish in the 100m freestyle. He was 1.35 seconds ahead of Magnussen.

American sprinter Fred Kerley will race later on Sunday in the 100m sprint - he clocked 9.93 seconds in the heats - and is another athlete who has refused to take performance-enhancing substances such as testosterone and peptides. Kerley is eyeing off Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58, but breaking that is highly unlikely.

Rapper Tyga, who boasts 46 million followers, is in attendance.

Medical professionals have warned about the potential long-term effects of taking such performance-enhancing substances.

More to come