enhanced games where to watch begins Sunday in Las Vegas with dozens of elite athletes allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs while competing for $25 million in prize money. The first edition turns a long-running underground issue into an organized meet, with world records in selected events carrying a $1 million bonus.
Aron D'Souza Launches Las Vegas Meet
Aron D'Souza co-founded the project in 2023 with Maximilian Martin, and this first competition is built around track, weightlifting and swimming. Athletes will be trying to break world records while using substances that are legal and approved by the Federal Drug Administration.
Those substances include testosterone and human growth hormone, which are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency but are encouraged and for sale at the event. That setup is the sharp break from standard sport: the drugs are not hidden, and the event is built around their open use.
Resorts World Casino Spotlight
The athletes answered media questions for two hours at a ballroom in Resorts World casino. Among them, Hafthor Bjornsson said he hopes to break his own deadlift record of 510 kg, or 1,124.4 pounds. American sprinter Shania Collins said, “We’re being up front and honest and transparent from the start.”
Collins added, “So how can you challenge our integrity when we’re forthright with the information?” Ben Proud and Fred Kerley are also among the elite athletes tied to the event, which has drawn backing from billionaire Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.
Travis Tygart Pushes Back
Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the US Anti Doping Agency, warned that anabolic steroids and growth hormones can cause strokes and cardiovascular damage. He said, “You don't have to be pressured or use drugs in order to be the best.”
He also said, “We don't want kids to have to say, 'in order to win an Olympic medal, when I'm 18 or 20 years old, I have to inject myself every day in the rear end with a potentially dangerous drug.'” That fight over drug use is what makes the Las Vegas debut more than another exhibition: it is a direct challenge to the anti-doping model that governs elite sport now.
Sunday is the first real test for the Enhanced Games project. If the event delivers the prize money, the record bonuses and the athlete turnout promised in Las Vegas, it will push an already divisive idea into a live competition rather than a debate.
