Kyle Chalmers hopes Enhanced Games leads to improvement in prize money for clean swimmers

Australian Olympic swimmer Kyle Chalmers (left) with McLaren's Lando Norris at Australian Grand Prix in March. PHOTO: REUTERS

UPDATED Jun 09, 2025, 03:54 PM

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Adelaide – Kyle Chalmers won’t criticise fellow swimmers for taking part in the Enhanced Games, but the Australian hopes the proposed multi-sport event prompts World Aquatics to increase prize money for clean athletes.

The Enhanced Games will allow athletes to use pharmacological or technological assistance, including substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Retired Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen, 34, in February 2024 agreed to take performance-enhancing drugs to make an attempt at beating Cesar Cielo’s 15-year-old 50-metre freestyle world record.

The Enhanced Games concept has been met with widespread criticism, with World Aquatics introducing a new bylaw that will prevent any athlete or official who supports or endorses doping from competing or holding any positions after a Greek swimmer supported by the Enhanced Games “broke” the world record.

“James is one of my really great mates, so I’m definitely not going to knock him for going across there,” Chalmers was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press on June 8, ahead of Australian trials in Adelaide.

“That is something that is hard in our sport, there’s not a huge amount of money or prize money on offer and we kind of do it for the love of it. So I am not going to be a person that slams swimmers for wanting to go across and make some money and give themselves a better opportunity in life or set their families up...”

The Enhanced Games will hold their inaugural competition in Las Vegas in May 2026 with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda. Participants could earn prize money totalling up to US$500,000 (S$642,580) per event plus bonuses for surpassing a world record mark.

“Swimmers have been underpaid for a very long time at the big competitions,” the 26-year-old said.

“I’m very lucky to have a lot of personal sponsors so I do OK for myself, which is nice. But I know that there’s a lot of swimmers out there that really struggle... So I really hope that there is a shift, that we are able to get a little bit more prize money for what we do, but I guess we’ll see.”

Over at the Canadian Swimming Trials, Summer McIntosh stormed to victory in the women’s 800m freestyle on June 8, firing another warning shot to Katie Ledecky after narrowly missing out on breaking the American’s world record.

A day after obliterating the 400m freestyle world record, McIntosh touched in 8min 5.07sec in the 800m, putting her just outside US great Ledecky’s world best of 8:04.12 set only in May.

“Going into tonight, I really wanted to see how close I could get to that world record,” the three-time Olympic gold medallist said after her win at the trials in Victoria, British Columbia.

“But, overall, pretty happy with my race and my splits. I was a little bit in no man’s land. So I’m happy excited for just moving forward and seeing how I can be pushed when I get some close-quarter racing.”

McIntosh won gold in the 200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley at the Paris Olympics and has indicated she’ll chase five titles at the world championships in Singapore in July.

On Saturday, she shattered the 400m free world record with a time of 3:54.18, slicing more than a second of the record set in 2023 by Australian Ariarne Titmus, who is taking the 2025 season off.

The blistering form of McIntosh and Ledecky sets the stage for a titantic duel at the world championships and the Canadian admitted she was relishing the prospect.

“Any time I get to race Katie, it’s an honour. I always have to bring my best to be able to challenge her,” McIntosh said on June 8.

“So I’m really excited for our match-ups at the worlds. This is my starting point now and I just try to keep pushing forward.” REUTERS, AFP

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