For that, Gkolomeev receives a record bonus of $1 million and $250,000 for first place in the competition, a total of over 11.5 million kronor.
It was in the men's 50-meter freestyle that a doped Gkolomeev swam 20.81 seconds, seven hundredths of a second faster than Cameron McEvoy's official world record of 20.88.
He also wore a synthetic supersuit, which was banned in official competitions in 2010.
SVT's expert commentator Lars Frölander, the former swimming star and Olympic gold medalist, believes that the supersuit had more of an effect than the doping.
Yes, 100 percent. Those suits do so much more than doping. We saw that during the years they were approved in 2009. There were 150 world records broken that year alone. It's a bit like getting to compete in an F1 car in a Porsche race, he told SVT.
In official competitions, 32-year-old Kristian Gkolomeev has won European Championship gold in 2024 and World Championship silver in 2019 in the 50-meter freestyle. He has competed in four Olympics, most recently in 2024 in Paris.
A majority of the approximately 40 sprinters, swimmers and weightlifters competing in the "doping games" have taken combinations of testosterone, anabolic steroids or other substances that are banned in other sporting events such as the Olympics.
