Why the Enhanced Games offer of $US10 million to break Usain Bolt's 100m world record in 2027 is unlikely to succeed

After the recent Enhanced Games (23 May 2026) where no 100m runner got anywhere near Usan Bolt's world record of 9.58 (+0.9 metres per second), with Fred Kerley winning with a time of 9.97 well outside his personal best of 9.76, investors for the games have sought to revitalise interest by offering a $US10 million bonus for any man who breaks the world record at the proposed 2027 event.

Yet, such a huge financial incentive is unlikely to lead to anyone breaking Bolt's world record, even if they use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) banned in mainstream athletic competition for a number of reasons.

First, to be capable of matching Bolt's time a clean runner would have to be running around 9.90 clean if they are to a have a chance to beat Bolt's record given that illegal PEDs can benefit the 100m time by up to 3 per cent.

While 15 athletes ran 9.90 or faster during 2025 with a legal wind reading in 2025, with the fastest legal 100m time being 9.75 (+0.8m wind) by Kishane Thompson on his way to a second global silver medal, it is difficult to believe that all recent times under 9.90 were without illegal PED use.

Although drug testing protocols continue to improve with tougher penalties for whereabout failures leading to the 2019 and 2022 world champions (Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley) being banned, some sprinters may still cheat by using microdoses of testosterone and human growth hormone that leave the body quickly yet still produce significant muscle-building and power benefits.

Athletics Integrity Unit data (as of 1 May 2026) shows that over 130 sprinters (100m to 400m) around the world are currently banned from international competition, while a survey at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham found that 915 of 4,822 athletes questioned confessed to doping in the previous 12 months (Edmund Willison, The Telegraph, 16 October 2025).

So, for those 100m sprinters who are already cheating with regard to their personal bests, they have zero chance of challenging Bolt's record time.

Second, who is to say that Usain Bolt's 9.58 time was even clean as implied after the 2012 Olympic Games 100m event when it was pointed out that Jamaica's doping controls were not as strong as other countries and lacked a random testing program that needed to be tightened ('Usain Bolt slams "attention-seeking" Carl Lewis over doping comments', CBS News/AP, 10 August 2012).

It is worth noting that after Jamaica adopted a tougher drug testing protocol in line with international pressure, Bolt won a further three more global gold medals in the 100m in 2013, 2015 and 2016 yet the times were much slower with 9.77, 9.79 and 9.81.

Of the top 10 fastest 100m times ever achieved run by the five fastest athletes (as of 4 June 2026), all under 9.75, the only athlete that has not received a drug ban is Usain Bolt.

If Bolt was clean, and one accepts a 3 per cent gain from illegal PEDs, then Bolt would have run 9.3 something rather than 9.58, and that sounds a bit unreal to me.

Third, if there are many 100m sprinters who can run sub-9.90 clean, which I personally doubt for the reasons I just expressed, it is unlikely that many of them will sacrifice their reputation and legacy to achieve an openly drug-enhanced time that challenges the Bolt record.