Olympian Hunter Armstrong risks World Aquatics ban by joining Advanced Games

Two-time gold medalist Hunter Armstrong has become the latest Olympian to announce plans to compete in the Advanced Games later this year, and he will do so without the aid of any performance-enhancing drugs.

Armstrong, a 25-year-old Olympian from Ohio, he told ESPN that he intends to compete in Olympic-style sports this May without using banned substances. He explained that his decision ended up being financial.

“If I don’t join Enhanced, I lose everything. If I join Enhanced, I have a chance to not lose everything,” said Armstrong explaining that in order to continue swimming he decided to enter the competition. “My back was against the wall, so I had to reopen that conversation to see if it was a reasonable approach.”

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Armstrong told the newspaper after suddenly losing a major sponsor last year, he needed to find a new way to keep swimming. Advanced Games will be held in Las Vegas, where prizes of up to $1 million will be awarded.

But World Aquatics, which is the governing body for this sport, last year came out with an amendment to its rules that will ban any athlete from this sport if they will participate in the Advanced Games.

“Those who do doped sports are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events,” its president Husain al-Musallam said in a statement after the decision in June. The new law states that anyone who “supports, approves, or participates in sporting events that accept the use of scientific advances or other practices that may involve prohibited substances and/or prohibited methods.”

Team USA’s Caeleb Dressel, Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong before the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay final on Day One of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, on July 27, 2024. (Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

However, Armstrong told ESPN that after consulting with lawyers, he believes he will still be eligible to compete if he passes the drug test and follows the rules and regulations of the governing body. But he didn’t get a straight answer before deciding to compete.

“No one really knows what will happen, and no one will give me an answer about what will happen,” he said. “So what I can fix is ​​what the rules say and get a chance because I won’t get an answer by waiting.”

Hunter Armstrong of Team USA prepares to compete in the 50-meter backstroke final on day eight of the Budapest 2022 FINA World Championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary, June 25, 2022. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

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A spokesperson for World Aquatics told ESPN that the organization will decide on the new rule on a case-by-case basis.

Several Olympians, including James Magnussen, Ben Proud, Cody Miller and Fred Kerley, will compete in the Advanced Games.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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