Professional athletes from around the world are about to descend on Las Vegas for the most intriguing and controversial sports competition of the year. The Enhanced Games are taking place at Resorts World on Sunday, May 24, to test the “enhanced” limits of human potential. Competitors will engage in swimming, track and field, and weight lifting, and the vast majority will be juiced on a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs.
The Enhanced Games have been making headlines, stirring conversation, and igniting arguments since the concept was first announced in 2023. Now, 3 years later, it’s finally happening, and anyone with a Roku streaming device can tune in to watch the action live for free.
Competing athletes include names like Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson (best known for playing “The Mountain” on HBO’s Game of Thrones), American Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley, British Olympic swimmer Ben Proud, and many others. However, critics of the Enhanced Games maintain that this is dangerous for both competitors and society at large.
Regardless of how you see it, the event is bound to make entertaining television. There will be action, drama, athletic prowess, and likely broken records. And, with a $25 million prize purse, athletes will be competing for a lot more than personal glory and national pride. Here’s everything you need to know about the Enhanced Games and how to watch them.
Enhanced Games 2026: Fast Facts
When & Where to Watch
The Enhanced Games start on Sunday, May 24, at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT. It will stream live on the Roku Sports Channel in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. If you own a Roku device or Roku TV, you can tune in for free. If not, The Roku Channel is available on iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TVs, Google TVs, and other Android TV OS devices.
Stay tuned for more GearJunkie coverage. This weekend, we’ll be attending the event live and reporting back.
What Sports Are Included?
Swimming, track & field, and weightlifting. The specific races and events within those disciplines have yet to be announced.
The games will start with swimming, followed by track and field. The Games are scheduled to conclude with weight lifting and a climactic deadlift world-record attempt, pitting Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson against Canadian strongman Mitchell Hooper.
Who to Watch
Fifty athletes will compete in this weekend’s inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. Some of the highlights include:
Swimmers
- James Magnussen (AUS) — 8-time Olympic gold, 5-time Olympic silver, and 3-time Olympic bronze medalist; world champion in the 100m freestyle race.
- Benjamin Proud (UK) — Olympic silver medalist; world champion in 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle races.
- Megan Romano (USA) — World champion in the 4x100m freestyle race.
- Hunter Armstrong* (USA) — Olympic gold medalist 4x100m medley.
Track
- Fred Kerley (USA) — Olympic silver and bronze medalist in 100m sprint; world champion in 4x100m relay and 100m relay races.
- Marvin Bracey (USA) — Olympic silver medalist in the 100m sprint race.
- Tristan Evelyn* (BRB) — National record holder for the 100m sprint race.
Weightlifting
- Mitchell Hooper (CAN) — 2-time World’s Strongest Man winner; 4-time Arnold’s Strongman Classic winner; the only weightlifter ever to win the World’s Strongest Man, Arnold Strongman Classic, Rogue Invitational, and Strongest Man on Earth competitions.
- Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson (ISL) — Holds the most world records (124) in the history of strength sports; 32 international weightlifting titles; known for playing “The Mountain” on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
- Leydi Solís (COL) — Olympic silver medalist in 69 kg; world champion in 69 kg and 81 kg.
* — Indicates competing as a “non-Enhanced” athlete.
Can I Attend In-Person?
No. The event is invite-only.
$25 Million Prize Purse, Records to Be Broken
Unlike the Olympic Games, which do not pay athletes for participation, gold medals, or broken records, the Enhanced Games are offering a $25 million prize purse.
Details on how that will be broken up or earned by athletes have not been disclosed. We will update this article with more details as soon as we can.
The Enhanced Games: A Public Trial of Performance-Enhancing Substances
For viewers, the Enhanced Games will be an opportunity to see professional athletes performing at a new level. But for athletes, it also represents a different playing field.
At the Enhanced Games, performance-enhancing drugs aren’t cheating. They may be an advantage for some, but only because their team applied them more effectively. It’s also not necessary to take surreptitious and even dangerous measures to hide drug use, as some Olympic athletes have.
Most competing athletes are members of the “Enhanced Performance Team,” which has received monthly stipends, coaching, medical oversight, nutritional support, and training camps. They have been monitored under an “approved clinical trial” in the UAE for the past 16 weeks. At the event in Las Vegas, they will be surrounded by personal physicians, coaches, and people monitoring their vitals and other health indicators.
However, drug use is not required by the rules, either. American swimmer and retired Olympic athlete Hunter Armstrong and Barbados sprinter Tristan Evelyn will both be competing as “non-Enhanced athletes.”
Controversy & Doubt
As one might imagine, not everyone is thrilled about these games. In particular, many anti-doping coaches, researchers, and advocates claim that the Enhanced Games are just a platform to glorify drug use and sell products. Skeptics like Julian Woolf, a Ph.D. assistant professor at the University of Illinois’ College of Applied Medical Sciences, claimed that athletes are putting their health at extreme risk, even with medical staff on hand and ongoing health monitoring.
“Having unrestricted access does not necessarily mean it will be safe, especially if athletes take large dosages of multiple substances,” he told GearJunkie when we spoke in 2024. “Moreover, people’s reactions to drugs are variable, and not everyone responds the same.”
Other critics, like Australian sports activist Jaimie Fuller, point out that the Enhanced Games website already has a products page where it’s selling performance supplements.
“This is a cynical launch campaign for snake oil,” Fuller told GearJunkie. “This is dressing [product marketing] up as research.”
For more information about the Enhanced Games, or the athletes, science, and investors behind it, check out the Enhanced website. And stay tuned for GearJunkie coverage of the live event.
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