Anti-doping watchdog urges US authorities to shut down planned drug-fueled event in Las Vegas

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The global watchdog of doping in sports said Wednesday it will urge public authorities to shut down the drug-fueled Enhanced Games planned in Las Vegas next year.

“We will urge the U.S. authorities to find legal ways to block this initiative,” World Anti-Doping Agency president Witold Banka said on the sidelines of a meeting of Olympic sports bodies.

Organizers of the games scheduled for next May promise $1 million bonuses to beat world-record times by athletes who will be encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision.

“This initiative seeks to normalize the use of potentially dangerous drugs,” Banka told leaders of Summer Olympics sports at the annual meeting of their umbrella group, known as ASOIF.

“For the sake of athlete health and the purity of sport of course it must be stopped,” the WADA leader said.

Banka, a former sports minister in Poland, suggested the Enhanced Games could be legally exposed in the state of Nevada or federally.

“This is something that has to be explored from the legal perspective,” he told The Associated Press. “I cannot imagine, for instance, doctors giving the drugs to the athletes. It is completely against the values of their work.”

“The main thing is this event is going to be located in the U.S., so I think there is a strong role to be played by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency,” said Banka, whose Montreal-based organization has long had a troubled relationship with the American agency.

Said USADA’s chief executive, Travis Tygart: “Banka’s indignation equals his misinformation or ignorance about how free democratic societies and markets work.”

He challenged Banka to testify at a U.S. Senate hearing next week at which WADA will be the topic.

“If he really wants to ask U.S. authorities to do something, he should show up and ask the Senate to do something,” Tygart said.

Investors in the project — which aims to sell personalized supplements and substances plans to subscribers — include one group backed by Donald Trump Jr.

The doping-backed project was “very embarrassing” for the U.S., Banka suggested, given its proximity to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Swimming's governing body, World Aquatics, said last week it will ban athletes, coaches and officials who take part in the Enhanced Games.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

FILE - The President of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Witold Banka speaks during the opening of the WADA Symposium for Anti-Doping Organizations at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 18, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP, file)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)