Giving a tour of the games’ 2,200-seat venue, Enhanced’s public relations officer carried a measuring tape, saying it was to dispel doubt that the track was non-enhanced and truly 100 meters.
To facilitate big performances, the night often played by its own rules. When an enhanced weightlifter could not break his weight class world record within the standard limit of three attempts, a fourth was granted that also failed. The men’s 100 on the track began after multiple false starts that would have led to disqualifications at a sanctioned meet.
Doping did not help on the track, where non-enhanced runners won both 100-meter races. Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion at the distance, is serving a two-year ban for allegedly having missed three drug tests, allegations he has contested. He was said to be one of the four clean competitors here. After his victory, he chided the doping competitors that they needed to “get on that s— a little bit more” to beat him.
Women’s winner Tristan Evelyn said her clean victory proved winning took “more than just chemistry” — but added she hoped it would not diminish interest in the games.
Collins finished second in her 100-meter sprint but smiled as though she had won. Her payday of $125,000 was “bigger than any contract I ever got my entire pro career,” she said. “In one meet, in 10 seconds.”
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In the pool, parsing out the benefit drugs provided was made difficult because superfast polyurethane “super suits” that have been banned since 2009 were allowed. Emily Barclay, a 28-year-old relative unknown from Britain, swam a time in the 50-meter freestyle that would have been fast enough to finish third in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Martin, the CEO, acknowledged afterward that he had hoped the night would reset multiple world records. But he judged success by personal records broken and attention garnered, saying the games had “dominated the internet,” where the broadcast was streamed on free platforms.
Ultimately there was one world record, in the night’s final event, when Gkolomeev’s time in the 50-meter freestyle was seven-hundredths of a second ahead of a clean record set by Cameron McEvoy. (McEvoy later posted a meme of a shouting chef with the text: “Seriously?! Thats All You Got?”)
Martin bowed by the pool to Gkolomeev after he delivered the night’s signature result. Gkolomeev had earned $1.5 million in four hours. Before he could answer a question about what message he hoped his performance would send, his coach, Brett Hawke, cut in first.
“He’s rich,” Hawke said.
