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.

Even with the lure of $US10 million for an athlete to break Bolt's 100m world record, the Enhanced Games needs to overcome the reality that many individuals would rather pursue mainstream global athletics success which is much more likely to service their psychological need for status, respect, and social identity.

The reality remains that mainstream athletics, led by the lure of Olympic Games and World Championships glory, provides the prestige that most runners and national sporting organisations aspire to in a world where most actors involved in international athletics oppose openly drug-fuelled sport.

Even Kenya, whose athletes have dominated middle and long-distance running for many years with many of its athletes winning prizemoney that goes a long way in a poorer nation, had no choice but to recently adhere to a tougher testing regime or face a ban from international competition.

After hundreds of Kenyan runners were suspended, including the female marathon world-record holder Ruth Chepngetich, the Athletics Integrity Unit has been able to increase the number of named Kenyan athletes in the national testing pool from 30 to 300 with three no-notice drug tests (urine and blood) necessary before they are cleared to compete.

A lack of interest for drug-fuelled athletics is a prime reason why the 2026 Enhanced Games galvanised very little worldwide public interest with only 250,000 watching the 23 May 2026 events with live viewership peaking at around just 60,000 concurrent viewers on the YouTube livestream.

In contrast, with athletics having many fans around the world, especially with regard to the Olympic Games, millions will watch stars of the sport compete for global success as was the case when 3 million Australian viewers alone watched Peter Bol's bid for a medal in the 800m final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where he ran fourth.

The prime importance of mainstream athletics is why Fred Kerley, while receiving $US250,000 prizemoney for winning the 100m at the Enhanced Games, declared his clean status and demonstrated an ongoing commitment to mainstream athletics once his current drug ban ends for whereabout failures ends during August 2027.

Nevertheless, if Kerley is clean as he claims, he may well chase the $US10 million on offer at the 2027 Enhanced Games via a drug-fuelled go at Bolt's 100m world record.

After all, Kerley will be 33 years old at the 2028 US Olympic trials where he needs to place top three to run at the Los Angeles Olympic Games and overcome the reality that the United States of America has the greatest 100m depth in the world.

But what of the younger talented sprinters that have emerged under strict drug testing regimes, led by the 18-year-old Australian Gout Gout who has run 10.00 for the 100m and 19.67 for the 200m in 2026.

Would any talented youngster be tempted by a $US10 million lure to beat Bolt's record?

I doubt it.

With Gout Gout already benefiting from a reported 8-year endorsement contract with Adidas with a base salary over $US4 million plus performance-based bonuses, it is unlikely that any young rising star would risk losing national and international acclaim in a world where mainstream corporate brands avoid any association with illegal PED use in line with public attitudes.

To conclude, I will be surprised if many top 100m sprinters compete at the 2027 Enhanced Games even with $US10 million being on offer for the winning athlete if one can break Bolt's world record of 9.58.

Certainly, those in mainstream athletics already cheating have little to gain from participating at the Enhanced Games, unless they are ageing with slower times, looking for an easy big pay day, and have little regard for their reputation being ruined by an association with sport that promotes illegal PEDs.

It is only the clean 100m runners that run around 9.90 or faster that have any chance of beating Bolt's record with PEDs, but I believe that most will stay aligned to mainstream sport within the ultimate hope that World Athletics continues to encourage fairer competition.

While some top sprinters will be tempted to use illegal PEDs if they think they can beat existing drug-testing protocols, albeit some are playing Russian roulette given that three male global 100m medalists have been caught since 2019, most accept that mainstream athletics is the only way to go with the vast majority of athletics participants, fans and corporations continuing to support the goal of drug free sport no matter how difficult is to achieve a truly level playing field.