For more than a decade, sprinters like Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman have chased the impossible: Usain Bolt’s 100 m and 200 m world records of 9.58 s and 19.19 s. None has come close. In recent weeks, rumours have surfaced ahead of the Enhanced Games, scheduled for May 21, suggesting an athlete may already have beaten Bolt’s 100 m mark. The event’s CEO, Aron D’Souza, has now addressed the speculation.

“Yes, he did break the world record, no we did not time it with a sun dial and yes, we have video, but we’re not showing you for …uh …reasons,” D’Souza told LetsRun.com.

Well, the rumors came after the Enhanced Games shared a video on Instagram of a sprinter whose face was hidden, declaring:

“I am the fastest man in the world. I’ve broken Usain Bolt’s world record, but you’ve never heard of me. I am a proud Enhanced athlete.”

In the clip, the sprinter even shows a clock reading 9.49 s, nearly a tenth of a second faster than Bolt’s official 100 m record. But fans may get to see him in action during the debut of the Enhanced Games, where athletes will perform under medical supervision while using performance-enhancing substances. Although the athlete remains unnamed, if he did break the record, he would be eligible for $1 million. But how?

According to the Enhanced Games, each event carries a total prize purse of around $500,000, with roughly $250,000 going to the winner. On top of that, organisers are offering a $1 million bonus for anyone who breaks the existing 100 m world record. That means a sprinter running faster than 9.58 s could claim the $1 million prize, provided the event follows through with the plan. But does that mean Bolt’s record is under threat? Actually, not!

Any time achieved at the Enhanced Games will not be recognised as an official world record by WA or other international sporting authorities. The certification of timing, rigorous wind measurement, and anti-doping measures on the basis of the WA and WADA standards is mandatory in official records.

Because the EG permits performance-enhancing drugs directly and does not run under these procedures, even a sprint of 9.49 seconds would just be an Enhanced Games record, not a record in the sport books of world records.

While the question of whether Usain Bolt’s 9.58 s record could ever be broken remains open, another potential record-breaking spectacle almost happened until the organizers intervened at the last minute.

Enhanced Games pulls the plug on the Marathon event

The Enhanced Games were also planning to push the limits of endurance with an “Enhanced Marathon,” but organizers pulled the plug at the last minute. Leaked internal documents reveal that top marathoners would have competed over the full distance while being allowed to use performance-enhancing substances.

The potential participants were Ruth Chepngetich, the world record holder at 2:09:56 (Chicago, 2024) in the women’s marathon, and Albert Korir, whose official personal best is 2:06:57 (2023 New York City Marathon). Nevertheless, following the recent tendencies in doping among elite runners, the organizers considered the event to be too unpredictable.

Aron D’Souza explained: “When Ruth Chepngetich ran under 2:10 for the marathon, we thought, Wow, that’s crazy. How fast could a woman run if she doped?’ Then Chepngetich tested positive, and we were like, ‘Oh….”Well,  Chepngetich had tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide in March 2025 and received a three-year ban.

D’Souza added, “If the official women’s world record is already doped and every other week there is a new top marathoner getting busted, there just doesn’t seem like much room to improve even if we openly dope our runners.”

Well, Korir’s ban is due to using a banned substance (CERA/EPO) that disqualified many of his recent results and currently keeps him out of competition.

By scrapping the marathon, the Enhanced Games showed the challenges of staging extreme athletic performances while openly allowing performance-enhancing drugs.