McEvoy laughs off Enhanced Games as Short stuns by breaking Australian record

Australian swimming star Cam McEvoy has laughed off the performances at last month’s Enhanced Games but admits he is concerned about an erosion of public confidence in clean sport after athletes using drugs failed to break world records.

Athletes competed for large sums of prizemoney in swimming, athletics and weightlifting at the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas while openly taking banned substances such as peptides and testosterone.

Enhanced Games organisers claimed Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev “broke” McEvoy’s world record when he clocked 20.81 seconds in the 50m freestyle, earning a $US1 million ($1.4 million) bonus on top of two $US250,000 race victories for a total payday of $US1.5 million for 67 seconds of racing.

McEvoy’s former Australian teammate James Magnussen finished last in the 50m and 100m freestyle races at the Enhanced Games. The 35-year-old’s 50m time of 22.35s in Vegas would have also left him in last place in Wednesday night’s 50m freestyle final at the Australian swimming trials, well behind McEvoy (21.32) in first place.

Jamie Jack, brother of Olympian Shayna Jack, qualified for his first Australian team with a second place finish in 21.52, ahead of Flynn Southam (21.72) in third. It came as 18-year-old Sydneysider Ollie Moclair (21.79), Ben Armbruster (21.80), Isaac Cooper (21.90) and Tom Nowakowski (22.06) all posted faster times than Magnussen.

“Not too bad. I wanted a little faster,” McEvoy said of his result. “Commonwealth Games is the plan for peaking.

“[Australia’s depth] is crazy. It’s a pretty exciting landscape. I think by Brisbane our 50s are going to be a powerhouse.”

Jack said he burst into tears after FaceTiming his sister, who was resting at a nearby hotel ahead of her 50m and 100m freestyle races this week.

“I just started bawling my eyes [out],” Jack said. “I wasn’t sure when I was going to cry, but I knew it would be some time tonight. She just said how proud she is of me.”

The Enhanced Games attracted widespread ridicule, with critics pointing out Gkolomeev was the only athlete to swim faster than an official world record despite having performance-enhancing substances in his system and wearing a banned supersuit that provided a significant advantage.

The money on offer would have been a bitter pill to swallow for McEvoy, who lowered the official 50m freestyle world record to 20.88s in March as a clean athlete.

“It’s like someone putting fins [flippers] on and doing a 50 freestyle,” McEvoy said on day three of the trials for the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. “It’s an exhibi