The inaugural Enhanced Games, an event that permits athletes to use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) to stress test the upper limits of human potential, is now just weeks away. Once a provocative thought experiment, it will soon be a reality. And it's destined to split opinion like few other events in the sporting calendar.

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Lately, fault lines are emerging within its own ranks too. In January, retired Team GB sprinter Reece Prescod announced he was signing up to the Games. The 30-year-old is the fourth-fastest British man over 100m, with a personal best of 9.93 seconds. Yet, while the majority of the 38-strong roster of swimmers, sprinters and weightlifters competing in Las Vegas this May will embrace an enhanced regimen, Prescod said he wasn't currently on any PEDs, nor would be in the future.

For a spectacle that feels manufactured to serve as a shop window for biohacking formulas and longevity potions on sale via its newly launched direct-to-consumer products business, it begs the question: what happens if a "clean" athlete cleans up at the Enhanced Games?

"People aren't necessarily aware that's actually a choice you have. Some athletes will be enhanced, some athletes will not be enhanced," Prescod told the BBC Radio 4's World at One programme at the start of the year.

His approach mirrors that of British swimmer Ben Proud. The 2024 Olympics silver medalist signed up to the Enhanced Games in September, explaining that organisers "aren't asking me to take anything". Proud said he was also unsure if he would use any PEDs.

So what exactly will be fair game in Vegas? While there is no definitive list, it's understood that substances prohibited by WADA, like human growth hormone (HGH) and treatments like testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), are allowed under strict medical supervision. These interventions are currently banned in mainstream sport, despite, in the case of TRT, being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the States.

HGH sits in a legal and ethical grey zone: because doctors can prescribe it for recognised medical conditions, athletes might claim exemption to obtain it. Like how some Tour de France cyclists allegedly stretched medical exemptions for asthma inhalers.

To ensure safety, organisers say every Enhanced athlete will undergo mandatory medical screening and be sequestered for 12-16 weeks to the SSMC Hospital in Abu Dhabi, one of the world's foremost longevity centres, leading up to the Games.

The stance of the two British athletes contrasts sharply with that of Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen. In early 2024, "The Missile" declared he would "juice to the gills" to break the 50m freestyle world record of 20.91 seconds set by Brazil's Cesar Cielo in 2009. Visibly beefed up, Magnussen missed his first attempt by a distance, later admitting he put on more size than intended.

Instead, Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece, stole the show. From finishing fifth in Paris, the 31-year-old swam 0.02 seconds faster than Cielo's long-standing record, earning a $1m (£745,000) prize pot in the process. His enhancements: a now-banned full-length polyurethane "supersuit" like the one Cielo wore and a two-week cycle of PEDs that he says changed his body shape considerably.

For a second attempt in textile "jammer" shorts that comply with current World Aquatic regulations, Gkolomeev says he undertook a full two-month cycle. Armed with an extra 10lb of lean muscle, he swam 0.01 seconds faster than anyone has managed without a supersuit, beating the previous best set by American nine-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel.

"The Enhanced Games gave me the resources and the team to unlock a new level of performance – and now the whole world can see what's possible," Gkolomeev said, without revealing which specific substances he was taking.

In a further plot twist, in March Australian Cameron McEvoy clocked 20.88 seconds at the China Open in Shenzhen to set a new official world record in the men's 50m freestyle, beating both times set by Cielo and Gkolomeev.

The 31-year-old achieved the feat without donning the controversial supersuit the Brazilian wore, but he missed out on any financial reward from World Aquatics because the meet was not organised or sanctioned by the governing body. Typically athletes receive $30,000 (£22,200) for world records set at the Aquatics World Championships.

"It's crazy to think that to get a world record without a suit and without any performance-enhancing drugs, as a clean athlete, the bonus is zero dollars," McEvoy said, illustrating the growing discontent among athletes who feel they aren't fairly compensated.

If or when more records tumble come May, how might athletes and spectators respond? Many will likely reject the Enhanced Games concept on principle, preferring not to grant it the oxygen of publicity. Many more will likely watch on with interest to see what man and woman – with a sprinkle of science – is capable of.

In this scenario, Prescod and Proud could emerge the heroes of the piece. Eclipse the feats of athletes on an Enhanced regimen through sheer discipline and determination and the trickle down effect for the everyday athlete would be profound. A reminder that there's no short cut for hard work, no silver bullet for overnight success.

The alternative outcome paints a more complicated picture. A future where impressionable teenagers and run-club enthusiasts dabble with FDA-approved PEDs without adequate medical oversight. And without the same supervision enjoyed by the very athletes they're trying to emulate.

Long-term, Enhanced's fail fast-mentality might lead to breakthroughs in the field of human optimisation. It could create a world where the use of Informed Sport steroids and stimulants becomes as commonplace as whey protein and pre-workout. Where TRT and HRT are prescribed like vitamin D and iron to plug gaps in micronutrient deficiencies.

But there will inevitably be considerable collateral damage incurred along the way, with athletes at all levels of sport and fitness left counting the cost.