Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has become the first British athlete to jump ship to the controversial Enhanced Games.
Proud, 30, won silver in the 50m freestyle at Paris 2024, an event he is also a former world and European champion in.
However, he has now committed to an event which allows athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
This means he will be unable to compete in any event under swimming’s world governing body World Aquatics, which includes future Olympic Games.
“My ambition has always been to be the fastest man on the planet,” Proud said in a release Wednesday.
“I want to focus on performance at its highest level and challenge myself in new ways.
“The Enhanced Games gives me that chance — to test the limits of human potential with the tools and possibilities of our time.”
The Enhanced Games were launched conceptually in 2023, which sees only substances approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed to be taken. This is different to the list Wada allows for elite athletes.
Wada have blasted the event, branding it a “dangerous and irresponsible project” that “puts athlete safety at serious risk and fundamentally undermines the core values of sport”.
Their inaugural competition will take place in Las Vegas in May 2026 and will award $250,000 to the winner of each event, as well as a prize of $1m for whoever can break the world record of the 100m track sprint and 50m freestyle.
Proud will compete in the latter event, with his current personal best (21.11s) sitting two-tenths of a second off the world record set by Cesar Cielo Filho in 2009.
A statement from Aquatics GB, swimming’s governing body in the United Kingdom, said: “Aquatics GB is immensely disappointed in Ben Proud’s announcement to sign with the Enhanced Games. Aquatics GB, along with our partners, stand firmly behind the values and principles of clean sport and condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms.”
A spokesperson for elite sport funding body UK Sport added: "UK Sport condemns everything the Enhanced Games stands for in the strongest possible terms.
"We believe it risks compromising athlete health and welfare, undermines the trust of fans and is the absolute antithesis to our philosophy of winning well. We are incredibly disappointed to learn that any British athlete in one of our Olympic or Paralympic programmes would support such an event.
"We are engaging with our colleagues at Aquatics GB as a matter of urgency to determine Ben Proud's suitability to receive public funds.
"It is clear however that any breach of anti-doping rules is contrary to the policies which any athlete must comply with to receive UK Sport funding."
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