After attending the Enhanced Games, I told its founder it will fail by 2031. This is why | Sean Ingle

Messages from elite sport figures in Las Vegas focused on the Enhanced Games, with many seeking details and others wanting them to fail. Promised world records did not materialize, and a pre-race suggestion that a historic women’s 100m mark might fall proved false. In the women’s 100m final, Tristan Evelyn competed as a drug-free athlete and won in 11.26 seconds, a time far below recent Olympic-level standards. Despite criticism, the event is planned to continue, including inviting fitness influencers to race with elite athletes and possibly adding a legends category. High earnings for winners and strong interest from elite athletes are driving participation, with organizers citing prize structures that exceed major traditional competitions.

"So much for the organisers' promises that we would witness multiple world records. So much for their ridiculous claim to be the Super Bowl of athletics, swimming and weightlifting! Hubris meet nemesis. Perhaps the most farcical moment came just before the women's 100m final. Only one athlete in the modest field had ever broken 11 seconds. But that didn't stop the announcer floating the idea that Florence Griffith Joyner's world record of 10.49sec might be under threat."

"Of course we weren't. Tristan Evelyn, who was competing as a drug-free athlete, won in 11.26sec a time that would have barely made it out of the first round of the 2024 Olympics. But I have some bad news for my friends in high-level sport, who despise the Enhanced Games and everything it stands for. It is not going away. At least not yet."

"When I spoke to its chair, Christian Angermayer, on Sunday night he revealed the plan for next year was to invite fitness influencers to race alongside elite athletes. A legends section may also follow, he reckoned. Shortly afterwards, the Australian swim coach Brett Hawke revealed that his phone had been buzzing with elite stars wanting to sign up."

"Hunter Armstrong competed clean and walked away with $250,000 (186,000). That's 12 times what gold at the World Aquatics championships pays. While World Athletics offers significantly more the winner of each event in its Ultimate Championships will get $150,000 Angermayer believes he can also lure big track stars over. So dismiss the Enhanced Games all you like. But don't ignore the underlying reasons why some are tempted. You can't pay a mortgage with morals."

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