Shane Ryan on the Enhanced Games and China Open : “The Exact Same Thing”

We are actually just a few days faraway from the primary Enhanced Games, which noticed hundreds of thousands of {dollars} paid out to athletes in Las Vegas, together with Shane Ryan, who got here away with a whopping $200,000.

Ryan gave an interview to the Night Swim Podcast one week ago, earlier than the beginning of the Enhanced Games, and notably drew comparisons between the Enhanced Games and the China Open, together with his primary level centered on the cash.

The comparability was drawn whereas discussing Hunter Armstrong, who gained $375,000 on the Enhanced Games by profitable the 50 again and ending 2nd within the 100 free as a clear athlete.

“[Armstrong] looked at the bylaws; he’s a clean athlete. He’s doing it for money,” Ryan mentioned. “It’s the same thing when the USA swimmers went over to China to that meet where there was a money grab, it’s the same thing, the exact same thing.”

That China Open meet is the meet the place Australian Cam McEvoy broke the 50 free world report in 20.88, lower than a yr after Kristian Gkolomeev swam an enhanced 20.89 50 free on the Enhanced Games Showcase in May of 2025. Gkolomeev lately topped McEvoy’s time on the Enhanced Games, posting 20.81 as an enhanced athlete.

The China Open did supply payouts to its contestants: $10,000 for 1st place in every race, $8,000 for 2nd, and $6,000 for third, in addition to as much as $20,000 in look charges. Though a bigger than regular payout compared to many meets, the Enhanced Games paid out its swimmers $250,000 for a win, $125,000 for 2nd, $75,000 for third, anf $50,000 for 4th, in addition to a an extra $250,000 for breaking a world report, and a $1 million bonus for a 50 free world report, which Gkolomeev earned, serving to deliver his occasion whole to $1.5 million in earnings.

For reference, Gklomeev was far and away the highest earner on the Enhanced Games with $1.5 million. At the China Open, Regan Smith was the highest earner with $52,ooo. That whole is almost half as a lot because the lowest-earning swimmer on the Enhanced Games, with $100,000, which comes because of ending 4th in each of their races.

Ryan then went on to say that he feels this occasion might push organizations, comparable to World Aquatics, to pay their athletes extra, and he referenced the now-discontinued International Swimming League.

” I hope later down the road, us doing this really exhibits that the World Aquatic ought to pay their athletes extra. It’s simply the identical factor with the ISL, when the ISL got here, there was an uproar… however they paid their athletes extra.” Ryan added. “You don’t have a sport without the damn athletes… Like just pay them, top 16 should be paid. That’s how I view it.”