Three days after the first Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, CEO Maximilian Martin has announced a $10,000,000 “World Record Bonus” for any athlete who breaks Usain Bolt‘s 100m dash World Record at the 2027 Enhanced Games and called the 2026 Games a “massive success”.
Official Announcement:
A $10,000,000 world record bonus awaits any sprinter who breaks 9.58 seconds in the 100m dash at the 2027 Enhanced Games.
Read more: https://t.co/R8ppuqpk7O pic.twitter.com/MPGKNVmwHP
— Enhanced Games (@enhanced_games) May 27, 2026
On Wednesday, Enhanced CEO Maximilian Martin released a letter addressed to “Shareholders” on his Substack.
In the letter, Martin discussed last week’s event stating “I have been fortunate enough to attend some of the greatest sporting venues in the world. Madison Square Garden. AT&T Stadium. The F1 Paddock. And while each of those venues is spectacular in their own way: Nothing prepared me for what Enhanced built in only four weeks.
“But beyond the spectacle, what moved me most was simpler: our athletes were happy and excited to compete. They were healthy and enjoying the bright lights and big stage. They competed at the highest level, with high stakes – and every single one of them walked away safe, and many of them performed better than they ever have. This is what Living Enhanced looks like in practice. And on Sunday night, the whole world saw it.
We delivered. Living Enhanced works.“
He went on to discuss the “commercial success” saying, “By any commercial metric, the inaugural Enhanced Games have been a massive success.”
Martin also said that following the success of the first event, the Games are receiving massive interest from new athletes, sponsors, and host venues.
On Tuesday, when the market reopened after the holiday, Enhanced (the company that produces the Enhanced Games) lost more than 50% of its stock value, prompting widespread criticism for the event.
In the letter, Martin addressed “What Comes Next”:
“Based on the strong commercial success of the inaugural Games, planning for the second Enhanced GAmes in 2027 has already begun. But our fans will not have to wait long for the next event. Planning for smaller-scale events is already underway…
“And to our sprinting fans: we hear you. Our inaugural sprinting events were not to the standard we aspire to and we know why. Top sprinters are among the highest paid athletes in athletics – the opportunity cost of joining Enhanced has been higher for them than for athletes in other sports. We need to change that equation.
The prize for breaking Usain Bolt‘s men’s 100m world record at tht 2027 Enhanced Games will be increased to $10 million. Our DMs are open.”
At the inaugural Enhanced Games, the men’s 100 meter dash was one of four events where the “World Record Bonus” was $1 million along with the women’s 100m dash and the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle. Only one athlete bettered the current world record, and it was Kristian Gkolomeev in the men’s 50 freestyle.
The men’s 100 meter dash was won by clean athlete Fred Kerley in 9.97 seconds, four tenths off Usain Bolt‘s 2009 World Record time of 9.58. This run was more than a tenth slower than the 9.81 he ran in the event at the Paris Olympics to win the bronze medal. Emmanuel Matadi, an enhanced athlete finished 2nd in 10.05 seconds.
The news about the $10 million prize comes just a few days after IOC president Kirsty Coventry said she didn’t believe in paying Olympic athletes.
He also said that Enhanced would be “venturing” into new sports. “While track, swimming, and weightlifting will remain the core at the Enhanced Games, endurance sports are equally compelling territory. More to come.”
Martin brought up Gkolomeev’s 20.81 swim in the 50 freestyle. He also said, “Shortly before, he swam the second-fastest 100m of all time – also a new personal best”.
This is incorrect. Gkolomeev swam 46.60 in the event, which was a personal best time, but was not the second-fastest swim in history. Pan Zhanle holds the World Record at 46.40 from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Romania’s David Popovici has the 2nd fastest time in history at 46.51, which he swam at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. Gkolomeev’s swim would be the 3rd fastest performance in history.
usain bolt was on drugs we all know this he just knew how to do it right and broke the unbreakable wr
NO ONE will break Bolt’s record, unless they too happen to be 6’5 or taller, with foot speed to match 5’8 sprinters. I don’t care how much T they take. Bolt pushed the race to a sci-fi level, breaking it forever.
Our stock crashed losing most of our value, our washed up athletes didn’t stack up to athletes outside our league, we barely had anyone watch. But big success!
Will they run in the octagon like real alphas?
This is silly stupid. More silly stupid than LIV golf. The investors in this circus deserve to lose all of their invested capital.
I thought Bolt’s record had already been achieved by an enhanced “athlete”: https://youtu.be/ckuJqVJ_suc
My biggest fear is that fast clean athletes will actually choose to “enhance” for this kind of money. Most athletes will never make this kind of money in swimming/track no matter how fast they are in the current system. Unfortunately most of these athletes don’t have a plan B. They are fast but they will never be Phelps or the other handful of athletes (in these sport specialities) whose talent can translate into a sustainable living. It’s big bucks off from a talent that isn’t otherwise compensated. This isn’t just selling your soul, this is selling your health and your longevity and I have a hard time believing that the guy in 2nd place in the (fill in the blank… Read more »
Right? What’s even SADDER and scarier is that someone wealthy chooses to support enhanced swimmers, and not clean swimmers. The CEO/billionaire who finances the enhanced games could 1,000% easily finance non-enhanced swimming and give non-enhanced world record breakers (who break world records more frequently than enhanced swimmers do, btw {THE SAME RECORDS, MIND YOU}) the same exact prize money, but they believe the enhanced version is more exciting. I totally beg to differ- I love watching the clean athletes. I only watched the enhanced games because the pool was ***king gorgeous we can’t deny that
People tend to become more evil when they have billions and it’s never enough and refused to pay higher tax.
Greed and evil is a twin.
This comment right here is where most people got it wrong. This “someone wealthy” is not choosing to support enhanced athletes for the love of the game. They are investing in the product behind the athletes and don’t care about the sport. At the end of the day it comes down to money for both, the investors, organizers and athletes.
Its not about the athletes. They are pawns. Its about selling endless drugs to Joe Sixpack who’d rather take drugs to look jacked than put in the hard work. Commentators on the live show kept saying go online and check out what we sell.
I mean u literally just described Proud. The real question is how long does the money still get pumped into this event before they are making enough with just sales on the gear to regulars and don’t need to advertise/ grab headlines anymore.
Cause if this thing goes for 5-10 years you’ll start seeing this become plan A for some 17-20 year olds with serious talent who are on the come up.
I mean, really, wtf else would this guy do? OF COURSE he said all this. 😂
This is becoming the equivalent of a bum fight ring. Someone will absolutely kill themselves for this amount of money.
From the recent article in Nature
“ Advocates of the Enhanced Games present the event as a defence of athlete autonomy. This is misguided. Elite sport does not operate in a realm of independent choice. Elite athletes are managed by systems that are shaped by coaches, sponsors, medical teams, governing bodies and more. If performance-enhancing drugs become normalized, the freedom not to use them might rapidly disappear. The Enhanced Games risk encouraging a coercive sporting culture, in which chemical enhancement and its risks become an implicit requirement for participation.”
https://archive.ph/2026.05.18-195010/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01574-w