Gkolomeev Cashes In Again — $1.25 Million, Still No Olympic Credit

Kristian Gkolomeev finished the 50-meter freestyle in 20.81 seconds at the Enhanced Games on Sunday, May 25, 2026, at Resorts World Las Vegas. That's 0.07 seconds faster than Cameron McEvoy's official world record of 20.88, set in March at the China Open, according to BBC Sport.

He won $250,000 for first place and a $1 million bonus for breaking the record. Gkolomeev earned the same $1 million payout at an earlier Enhanced event, according to The Athletic.

"Another million, I'm gonna say, it's not bad at all," Gkolomeev told the Enhanced Games YouTube broadcast. "This is gonna change my life to the good, for sure."

The 32-year-old Greek swimmer has competed in four Olympics and never made a podium. He found his podium in Las Vegas.

What the Record Actually Means — Nothing Official

World Aquatics condemned the Enhanced Games as a "circus, built on short-cuts," according to BBC Sport, and will not recognize Gkolomeev's time.

Two reasons explain the rejection.

First, Gkolomeev was competing on a documented performance-enhancing drug protocol — one of 42 athletes collectively taking 37 substances, according to The Atlantic, including testosterone, human growth hormone, anabolic steroids, metabolic modulators, and Adderall.

Second, he was wearing a polyurethane "supersuit" banned by World Aquatics in 2010 after it produced a flood of artificial records in 2008-09. The suit reduces drag and boosts buoyancy. Using both simultaneously and calling the result a "world record" stretches the definition.

The official 50-meter freestyle world record holder remains Australian Cameron McEvoy, at 20.88 seconds.

Everything Else Fell Flat

Gkolomeev's swim was the last race of the day — and it needed to be, because nothing before it delivered.

American sprinter Fred Kerley promised, on the record, that Usain Bolt's 9.58-second 100-meter world record would be "destroyed." Kerley ran 9.97 seconds, according to Wired. His own personal best is 9.76. A time of 9.97 would have placed him last at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kerley was one of only four athletes competing clean — without performance enhancers. Three of those four clean athletes won their events, according to The Athletic.

British swimmer Ben Proud won the 50-meter butterfly in 22.32 seconds — a personal best and British record for him, but still 0.05 seconds short of the world record, according to BBC Sport.

Hafthor "Thor" Bjornsson — known as The Mountain from Game of Thrones — competed in weightlifting but couldn't break his own 510kg deadlift record, per BBC Sport.

Enhanced Games reported that 13 athletes set personal bests. Out of 42.

The Venue Was Half-Empty

The event was invite-only. No public ticket sales. Crowd capacity was roughly 2,500, according to BBC Sport. Wired reported the stands were "quarter empty or more the entire time."

The $50 million temporary facility built specifically for the event featured a four-lane Olympic-size 50-meter pool and a 100-meter sprint track. Impressive infrastructure paired with limited attendance.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Missing

Left-leaning outlets — Wired, The Atlantic — focused heavily on the dystopian aesthetics and venture capital angles (Enhanced has raised more than $300 million, including from Peter Thiel and 1789 Capital, per The Atlantic). The critical question getting less attention: did the drugs even work?

If performance-enhancing drugs are so powerful, why did the clean athletes win? Why did Kerley — who competed without enhancement — run slower than his clean personal best by 0.21 seconds? Why did only ONE athlete out of 42 break a world record, and only while also wearing banned equipment?

Enhanced's own press release, dated May 21, 2025, describes Gkolomeev breaking the record as a "world-first" at an announcement event — which means the organization has been using this record as a marketing milestone for over a year before the actual inaugural competition on May 25, 2026. Enhanced has been paying Gkolomeev to break records as a promotional stunt.

The business model deserves scrutiny.

What's Next

Sunday's event at Resorts World Las Vegas was the Enhanced Games' inaugural Memorial Day Weekend 2026 showcase. The organization has announced plans for expanded future competitions that will include 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly, 100m sprint, hurdles, and weightlifting, with $500,000 prize pools per event and the same $1 million record-breaking bonuses, per Enhanced's official announcement.

Gkolomeev said he'll be back. "Maybe I'll break it again."

For $1.25 million a swim, many athletes would show up.