2015 World 100m hurdles gold medallist, Danielle Williams, is expected to open her season in the United States, at the American Track League Indoor Series, next month.

The upcoming appearance will be the first for the 28-year-old sprinter since she pulled the plug on her 2020 season, in May, when the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the international track and field schedule.

The American Track League, which is part of the World Athletics Silver Tour, gives professional athletes an opportunity to return to competition as preparations begin for an Olympic year. 

The meet, which is staged in four-parts, ran off in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Sunday.  2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m hurdles, Omar McLeod, who raced in the 60 metres, was one of several Jamaicans who took part on the opening weekend.  The list also included the likes of Tyquendo Tracey, Senoj-Jay Givans, and Christopher Taylor.  The meet will continue with the next three installments on January 31^st, February 7^th, and February 14^th.

Williams, the 2019 Diamond League champion, is based in South Carolina in the USA where she trains with coach Lennox Graham at Clemson University.

Jamaica's 4x100m relay World Championship medallist, Jura Levy, has hopes of rehabilitating her career after overcoming a troublesome spell with injury and a recent move to Legacy Athletics Track Club.

The 30-year-old, former outstanding Vere Technical high school sprinter, was part of a bronze medal-winning national team at the 2017 World Championships in London.  A double injury blow experienced during the 2018 and 2019 seasons has since interrupted the athlete’s progression.

The sprinter is back to feeling in top shape, however, and the combination of a not-so-busy 2020 season, which was heavily impacted by the pandemic, and the recent move to Legacy has her feeling positive about the future and targeting a return to prominence by securing a spot on the national team for the Tokyo Olympics.

“I would like to make the Olympics team and get my personal medal,” Levy told Talking Sports.

The battle for the top three individual spots will be fierce, with decorated World and Olympic medallists Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah, all things going to plan, all but confirmed spots.  Former 2018 double World U20 sprint champion and promising prospect Briana Williams is also expected to figure prominently in the race.  Levy, however, refuses to count herself out.

“I don’t think any trials or championships is ever easy, but I’ve been there before and I’m putting in the work to get there.  So, come June I hope to secure a spot on the podium,” she added.

“My goal is to finish top three but if I make the Olympic team, I will still be ok, hopefully with a personal best.”

Christopher Taylor says he is glad to have got the chance to prove himself to the world once more following his impressive indoor debut in Arkansas on Sunday.

Christopher Taylor and Christania Williams copped second-place finishes in the 400m and 60m races, respectively at the opening meet on the American Track League circuit in Fayetteville, Arkansas earlier today.

Andre Ewers, meanwhile, finished third in the men’s 60 dash that ended in a dominant win for American Trayvon Brommell.

Taylor, who was making his debut indoors, ran 45.73 in the 400m that was won impressively by American Fred Kerley in 45.03. Kerley said afterwards that he would have gone faster had he been pressed.

The 45.73, however, would have been an encouraging start for Taylor, who spent much of the past two seasons recovering from injury after he made the move to Florida to train with Rana Reider at Tumbleweed Track Club.

Travean Caldwell was third in 46.25.

Williams, the 2018 Commonwealth Games 100m silver medalist, ended up second in a blanket-finish with Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare who won in 7.17s. Williams’ 7.18 mirrored the time she ran in the preliminaries earlier. Kayla White was third in 7.20.

Ewers ran 6.74 in the preliminaries to advance along with Omar McLeod whose 6.73 made him the fastest Jamaican going into the finals. Neither of them was as impressive as Bromell, who ran 6.58 easing down as he made his way into the final.

In the final, he let it all hang out winning handsomely in 6.48. The rest of the field finished under a blanket with Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru given second in 6.65 with Ewers third in 6.67. McLeod was a further 0.03 seconds back in sixth.

Brittany Anderson, who set the U20 world record in the 100m hurdles in Finland in July 2019,  found the going at the senior level a little tougher today finishing fourth in the 60m hurdles.

Her time of 8.06s was the fastest for a Jamaican this year but Tiffany Porter (7.89), Christina Clemons (7.88), and, winner, Tonea Marshall (7.86) were that much faster.

Halle Hazzard won the women’s 200m at the Hokie Invitational meet held in Blacksburg, Virginia on Saturday.

In the finals run over three, Hazzard, Grenada’s 2018 Junior Sportswoman of the Year and a senior at the University of Virginia, clocked 24.04, her time in Section 1, from which two of the three medalists emerged.

Kayla Bonnick,  a graduate of St. Jago High School in Jamaica and a freshman at Virginia, clocked 24.72 for second in Section 1, but was third overall as Kiyah East of Louisville, won Section 3 in 24.55 for second place overall.

World U18 100m hurdles record holder set a new personal best while winning the 60m hurdles at the Aggie Invitational in Bryan-College Station in Texas on Saturday.

Unheralded Jamaican sprinter Kevaun Rattray won the 60m dash at the Orange Winter Classic in Clermont. Florida on Friday.

Jamaica middle-distance runner, Aisha Praught-Leer, has signed with sporting goods giants Puma ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held later this year.

The 31-years-old Praught-Leer is Jamaica’s record holder in the 3000m Steeplechase event and represented the country at the 2015 and 2017 IAAF World Championships, as well as the 2016 Olympics, where she qualified for the final.

In addition, the athlete also captured gold in the event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.  Praught-Leer has, however, contemplated switching events to try her hand at competing in the 1500m. 

The athlete had hoped to make her 1500m Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games but like many others had to set aside those plans as the event was postponed due to the onslaught of the coronavirus.  She has already begun her quest to qualify for this summer's Games by targeting three events, the 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and 1500m.  She currently has personal best times of 15:07.50 in the 5000m, 9:14.09 seconds in the 3000m steeplechase, and 4:05.52 in the 1500 metres.

Praught-Leer previously represented Under Armour after signing a contract with that brand in 2017, earlier this month, however, she announced via social media that her contract with the company had come to an end.

The 2021 Carifta Games will not be staged on the traditional Easter weekend. Instead, the regional junior track and field championships will take place between July 2 and 4, in Bermuda.

The premier fundraising event of the David 'Wagga' Hunt Scholarship Foundation, (DWHF), The “Jamaica David 'Wagga' Hunt Annual Red Carpet Ball,” will be held virtually this year, on Sunday, January 31, 2021, at 7:00 PM and will be streamed live on YouTube.

Olympic chiefs have been joined by the Japanese government in denying a report that the Tokyo Games is poised to be called off for a second time.

The delayed Tokyo 2020 event is due to officially open on July 23 and close on August 8, having been put back by a year because of the COVID-19 health crisis.

However, with the pandemic still causing devastation in countries across the globe, there have been concerns that staging an Olympics in 2021 may be impractical.

British newspaper The Times quoted an unnamed senior Japanese government source as saying: "No one wants to be the first to say so but the consensus is that it’s too difficult. Personally, I don't think it's going to happen."

That is a perspective that is hotly disputed, with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach telling Kyodo News: "We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo.

"This is why there is no plan B and this is why we are fully committed to make these Games safe and successful."

Japan has strict border controls in place in an attempt to prevent travellers spreading coronavirus and bringing new strands of the virus into the country.

The IOC executive board is due to meet on January 27, when it is set to receive updates from the Tokyo organising committee.

A recent poll of Japanese public, conducted by broadcaster NHK, found there was widespread opposition to the Olympics going ahead this year.

The Times said Tokyo would look to host the 2032 Olympic Games.

Yet Australian John Coates, an IOC vice-president and chair of the Tokyo Coordination Commission, says the plan remains for the Games to be held in its current slot.

"There has been no discussion on cancellation," Mr Coates told The Ticket, an ABC radio show.

"At the end of the day, politicians do have to take into account the feelings of those inside their party and the general public.

"But this is not the message we are getting from Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga or the president of the Tokyo Organising Committee Yoshiro Mori, himself a former Prime Minister."

In Japan, deputy chief cabinet secretary Manabu Sakai told media that the prospect of a Games cancellation was not under consideration.

He said: "There is no such fact. I would like to deny it. The government is working as one to prepare for the success of the event this summer."

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said it is continuing to plan for the Olympic Games, despite reports the rescheduled showpiece event in Tokyo could be cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 forced the 2020 Games to be postponed, with the Olympics now due to held in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8 this year.

But with coronavirus continuing to wreak havoc globally, there are reports claiming Japan has privately concluded the Olympic Games will have to be called off.

The AOC responded to the reports in a statement on Friday, which read: "Both Japanese prime minister Suga and IOC president Bach have this week strongly reaffirmed their commitment to the Tokyo Olympic Games going ahead in July this year. 

"The AOC is continuing its planning to ensuring the Australian Olympic Team arrives in Tokyo, competes and returns home safe and COVID-free.

"The AOC, Federal Government, Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council are continuing to progress the candidature for the Olympic Games to be held in Queensland in 2032 – and that process continues."

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach also insisted the Games will take place this year, despite surging COVID-19 cases in Tokyo.

Amid growing doubts, Bach told Kyodo News on Thursday: "We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo.

"This is why there is no plan B and this is why we are fully committed to make these Games safe and successful."

"You may not like it but sacrifices will be needed. This is why I'm saying, safety first, and no taboo in the discussion to ensure safety," added Bach after hinting at the possibility of reduced spectators.

Bach said: First of all, let me be clear that you cannot compare March 2021 with March 2020 because there is such great progress in science, medicine, vaccination and [virus] tests.

"All this was not available in March last year. Nobody knew yet how really to deal with the pandemic, and now we know much more."

Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor is set to make his indoor debut on Sunday as the American Track League gets underway this season, meet organizer Paul Doyle has confirmed.

Track Coach Omar Hawse believes the Legacy Athletics is beginning its journey as a track club with one of the best group of athletes any club in Jamaica has ever started with.

Steven Gardiner and Tynia Gaither of the Bahamas had podium finishes at the UAB Blazer Invite in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday.