Hunter Armstrong On Racing Clean At Enhanced Games, Getting Paid, And What Comes Next
6/3/20261 hr 4 min
Olympic gold medalist Hunter Armstrong left the inaugural Enhanced Games with $375,000 in prize money after two podium finishes, but the bigger story may be what happened before, during, and after the meet. Armstrong, who competed as a clean, non-enhanced athlete, won the men’s 50 backstroke in 24.21 while racing in a polyurethane “super suit.” The swim earned him $250,000, though it was about half a second off his American record of 23.71. He returned in the 100 freestyle, finishing 2nd in 48.0 behind Kristian Gkolomeev, who won in 46.6. Armstrong’s lifetime best is 47.59. The runner-up finish added another $125,000, bringing Armstrong’s total Enhanced Games payday to $375,000.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
[upbeat music] Podbean, your message amplified.
Mel Stewart· Host0:03
Ready to share your message with the world? Start your podcast journey with Podbean.
Speaker 10:08
Podbean, the AI-powered all-in-one podcast platform.
Mel Stewart· Host0:12
Record, edit, optimize.
Speaker 10:14
Publish, distribute.
Speaker 30:16
Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts.
Speaker 10:20
Launch your podcast on Podbean today.
Mel Stewart· Host0:22
[upbeat music] I'm Mel Stewart and this is a GMM Takeover, the Swim Swam podcast. Joining me today, Olympic champion Hunter Armstrong, fresh off of winning $375,000 at the Enhanced Games. Of course, for winning the 50 backstroke and being second in the 100 freestyle. He, of course, competed non-enhanced, but he was super suited. So he's not on the protocol, but he was super suited. He's really our first-person reporter for this event. He takes us inside and tells us what he liked and what it was like, and the pressure, and his thinking. There's a lot of interesting inside baseball things that happened around those races, and his thinking in terms of him standing on one side of the pool and $250,000 on the other side of the pool, either 24 seconds or 47, 48 seconds later in the 100 free. We talked about being super suited and the problems with wearing the super suit. And he also talks about the feedback that he's gotten since competing, and all of the athletes he's spoken to privately who are elites, who were very, very curious about participating in the Enhanced Games. He puts everything on the table here. I hope you enjoy this conversation.