Jamaica's Olympic 110-metre hurdles bronze medallist Ronald Levy now faces the possibility of a four-year ban after his B sample returned positive for two banned substances.

This confirms the finding in Levy's A sample by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from an out of competition test last month, in Canada.

It is understood that GW501516-Sulfoxide and GW501516-Sulfone, are the substances found in Levy's sample.

A four-year ban would rule the 31-year-old Westmoreland native out of next year's Paris Olympics, as well as the next two World Athletics Championships editions in 2025 and 2027.

Levy, who also has a 2018 Commonwealth Gold medal in his accolade, had earlier this month confirmed being notified of the adverse analytical finding on November 3, and vowed to defend his integrity, as he "is certain he did not knowingly breach the rules."

Olympic bronze medalist Ronald Levy has revealed that he is the athlete that has returned an adverse analytical finding from a recent drug test, further confirming a report on Sportsmax.TV on Friday.

The 31-year-old Levy, the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist tested positive for banned substance, believed to be a fat burner, during a recent drug test and has requested that his “B” sample be tested.

In a post on social media, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist expressed surprise at the positive test, stating, “I am stunned at the turn of events because I have always conducted myself with the highest level of integrity in the sport, which I love dearly and would never seek to gain an unfair advantage.

“I intend to defend my integrity during this process because I am certain I did not knowingly breach the rules.”

The athlete who recently switched camps, departing from MVP Track Club to reunite with his high school coach at Elite Performance, indicated the test that yielded the positive result was done in early October.

“Early last month I was tested out of season. I expected to be negative on that test like I have on every test I have ever taken throughout my career. I was surprised to receive a letter on Tuesday (November 2, 2023) by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission of an adverse analytical finding. I have decided to take the option to have by ‘B’ sample tested, of which I await the results.”

Levy has had a run is misfortune over the past few years during which he has undergone multiple surgeries on his leg, which has significantly limited his ability to compete since he won the bronze medal in the 110m hurdles in Tokyo in 2021.

Danielle Williams made it two wins from two starts on Sunday since her medal exploits in Budapest after hurdling to a comfortable victory at the ISATF Meeting in Berlin.

The 30-year-old two-time world champion cruised to victory in the 100m hurdles in an easy 12.71. She was well clear of Australia’s Michelle Jenneke, who clocked 12.89 for the runner-up spot. In third was the USA’s Amber Hughes, who crossed the line in 12.98.

The news was not so good for the other Jamaican in the race. Olympic silver medallist Megan Tapper did not complete the event.

However, Williams was not the only Caribbean winner in Berlin on Sunday. Olympic bronze medallist Ronald Levy, who has been making his way back to form after long-term injuries, won the 110m hurdles in 13.45, a season’s best.

Levy got the nod over Just Kwaou-Matthey of France, who was timed in 13.46 in a blanket finish. Italy’s Ndele Simonelli Lorenzo was not far behind in 13.50.

Bahamian star runner Shaune Miller Uibo did not finish her 400m race that was won by Norway’s Henriette Jaeger in a new national record of 51.03.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Jonielle Smith was third in the 100m. She ran a time of 11.33 in the race won by the USA’s Jenna Prandini in 11.24 with Belgium’s Rani Rosius finishing just ahead of the Jamaican in 11.32.

When the athletes for the 110m hurdles line up at Jamaica’s National Athletics Championships this coming weekend, noticeably absent will be the 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod.

McLeod, the 2017 world champion, is not among the 19 men who will contend for one of three spots up for grabs as the hurdlers vie for places at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August. 

There has been no official word from the athlete or his representatives over his absence. He has raced sparingly this season, running twice indoors and once outdoors. On April 29, he ran 13.67 for a second place finish at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The 29-year-old McLeod has not had the best of fortune at Jamaica’s national championships in recent years. In 2021, he finished at eighth in the final at Kingston’s National Stadium and then infamously blamed the Jamaican authorities for mistreating him.

“I don’t think I was given or granted a fair opportunity to make the team with this ridiculous schedule that I have never seen in my years in track and field where they have semi-finals late in the evening and then, without recovery and the country was in complete lockdown so we were unable to go back to the hotel and get food,” he told media at a press conference in the United Kingdom days later.

“So, my team and I, we did the best we could and we went to a little lounge at the hotel and drank some soup and had a salad because that was all they had, trying to go back to the track and five in the morning for a final at eight, I mean, that’s stupid."

Then in 2022, he finished at the back of the pack once again after hitting a hurdle early into the race and failed in his effort to qualify for an attempt to win a shot at another world title.

Meanwhile, the event which is expected to be keenly contested, will feature a stacked that includes reigning Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, Olympic bronze medalist Ronald Levy and Commonwealth Games champion Rasheed Broadbell, who are expected to be in the running for places on the Jamaican team to Budapest.

However, the battle for places will have to be earned as the likes of Phillip Lemonious the 2023 NCAA Outdoor champion and a resurgent Tyler Mason will also be targeting breakthroughs to the international scene.

Tokyo Olympic semi-finalist Damion Thomas and the talented LaFranz Campbell are also down to compete for spots.

Orlando Bennett, the 2022 NACAC bronze medallist, is also among the 19 as well as collegiate standouts Jaheem Hayles, Sharvis Simmonds, Michael Buchannan, Jordani Woodley, and Andre Douglas.

The multi-talented Dejour Russell will also be keen to get a look in on a team to a major senior championship.

World-leader in the 60m hurdles Danielle Williams, Britany Anderson and Natoya Goule are among the medal contenders named to Jamaica’s team to the World Indoor Championships in Serbia from March 18-20.

Williams set a world-leading time of 7.75 at Clemson on February 11, which makes her a medal favourite for the championships. Anderson, 21, ran a lifetime best of 7.82 in Louisville, Kentucky, making her fourth-best in the world this year. Besides her compatriot, only Americans Kendra Harrison and Alia Armstrong, who have both run 7.81 have gone faster.

Goule, who ran world-leading times twice so far this season, has the second-fastest time in the world over 800m this indoor season. Her 1:58:46 set in France on February 17, is only bettered by Keely Hodgkinson's 1:57.20 set in Birmingham on February 19.

The 19-member team also includes Briana Williams, whose 7.09 makes her the second-fastest Jamaican and sixth-fastest in the world over 60m this year and Shericka Jackson, whose personal best of 7.12 makes her the third-fastest Jamaican and tied for 14th in the world for 2022.

The female dominant team also includes Danielle Thomas-Dodd for the shot put, Kimberly Williams in the triple jump as well as Roneisha McGregor and Stephenie-Ann McPherson for the 400m.

 Junelle Bromfield, who is an alternate for the 400m, Tiffany James, Tovea Jenkins, Janieve Russell as well as McPherson and McGregor comprise the 4x400m relay squad.

Christopher Taylor has been named for the 400m while Ronald Levy will go in the 60m hurdles and Nigel Ellis will compete in the 60m dash.

Olympic gold medalists Elaine Thompson-Herah and Hansle Parchment have been named among the nominees for the 2021 RJR Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards set for January 21, 2022.

Due mainly to the ongoing pandemic, the Awards will be a made-for-television event instead of the usual gala.

Thompson-Herah will likely be the favourite to add to the award she won in 2016 when she became the first woman to win an Olympic sprint double since 1988. At the Tokyo Olympics, Thompson-Herah won three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m).

She won the 100m in an Olympic record of 10.61 and the 200m in a national record of 21.53, the second-fastest time in history. Following the Olympics, she ran 10.54, the second-fastest time ever run by a woman, at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on her way to winning the Diamond League title.

However, she is among a stacked field of women who also performed at exceptionally high levels through the year, up to the end of November.

Chief among them is her perennial rival Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who was second in the 100m in Tokyo and was also a member of the gold-medal-winning 4x100m team. The Pocket Rocket also created history of her own in Tokyo when she became the only woman to win medals in the 100m at four consecutive Olympic Games.

She also ran a personal best of 10.60 which made her the third-fastest woman in history.

Shericka Jackson is also among the nominees for winning bronze in the 100m in Tokyo, gold in the 4x100m and a 4x400m bronze. She also ran a personal best 10.76 in the 100m.

Megan Tapper, another nominee, created history as the first woman from the Caribbean to win a medal in the Olympics 100m hurdles. This, after she surprisingly won her second national title in June.

Last, but definitely not least of the five female nominees of West Indies Women cricketer Stafanie Taylor, whose consistent performance with bat and ball saw her ranked among the best female cricketers in the world. She also became one of only three women to score 5000 ODI runs in the history of women’s cricket.

Parchment, who stunned the world to defeat American Grant Holloway and win gold in the 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, leads the male nominees, that also includes fellow sprint hurdler and national champion Ronald Levy, who won bronze in Tokyo.

Also among the male nominees are West Indies and Jamaica batsman Nkrumah Bonner and Rally Cross driver Fraser McConnell.

The nominees for People’s Choice Performance of the Year include Mikhail Antonio’s wonder strike against the United States at the national stadium in Kingston and McConnell’s historic win in the Nordic Rally Cross in February.

The other nominees are Tapper’s surprise bronze medal in the 100m hurdles in Tokyo, Parchment’s golden run in Tokyo and Thompson-Herah’s blistering 10.54 run in Oregon on August 21.

Olympic bronze medalist Kirani James was an impressive winner in the 400m at the Memorial Borisa Hanzekovia 2021 Meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday when Shanieka Ricketts ended her season with a meet record effort in the triple jump.

James won in commanding fashion clocking a meet record 44.46. Looking fresh and fast even as his season winds down, James was more than a half-second faster than Botswana’s Isaac Makwala, who faded down the stretch to clock 45.15.

Italy’s Edoardo Scotti ran 45.30 for third.

Ricketts, meanwhile, closed her season with a meet record of 14.77m to win the triple jump ahead of Nesa Filipic, who jumped 14.31m for second place. Senni Salminen was third with 14.24m.

Once again, Shericka Jackson had to settle for the runner-up spot in a race with Christine Mboma of Namibia. The teenager ran a meet record of 22.04 pulling away from Jackson, who ran 22.30. Athonique Strachan of the Bahamas ran third in 23.05.

Similarly, Ronald Levy played second fiddle to the USA’s Devon Allen in the 110m hurdles. Allen ran a personal best of 12.99 in what was an unexpectedly comfortable win ahead of the Olympic bronze medalist who ran 13.10 for second place whole Hansle Parchment, the Olympic gold medalist was third in 13.12.

Janieve Russell ran 55.45 for third in the 400m hurdles race won by Panama’s Gianna Woodruff in 54.67. Anna Ryzhykova was second in 54.87.

Marvin Bracy had another impressive win in the 100m clocking 9.86 while pulling away from Ronnie Baker (9.97) and Trayvon Bromell (10.03). Julian Forte ran 10.20 for fifth.

Shadae Lawrence ended her season with a third-place finish in the discus with a throw of 60.80m. Olympic champion, the USA’s Valarie Allman throw 69.63m for the win over Sandra Perkovic (66.48m).

Olympic medalists Ronald Levy and Briana Williams as well as Natasha Morrison and Jaheel Hyde enjoyed podium finishes at the ISTAF Berlin meeting in Germany on Sunday.

Elaine Thompson-Herah was the only Caribbean athlete to win on the final day of the Diamond League season in Zurich on Thursday but a few others came very close.

Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Ronald Levy and compatriots Stephenie-Ann McPherson and Shanieka Ricketts were among the winners on Sunday at the Meeting Citta di Padova in Italy where American Sha’Carri Richardson ended up on the podium in the 100m.

Levy, who ran 13.10 to win the bronze medal in the 110m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics last month,  clocked 13.34 to win the event ahead of Italy’s Paolo Dal Molin.

The Italian clocked 13.45 while Brazil’s Rafael Pereira was third in 13.66.

McPherson, in her first race since she suffered an injury in the final of the 400m at the Olympics, ran a smart 50.78 for victory in the one-lapper. Authorised Neutral Athlete Polina Miller finished as the runner-up in a time of 50.96.

Junelle Bromfield made it a Jamaica 1-3 as she took third in 51.19.

Ricketts led a Caribbean 1-2-3 in the triple jump that she won with 14.74. Standout Dominican jumper Thea LaFond was second with her best effort of 14.57m while Cuba’s Liadagmis Povea took the final podium spot with 14.35.

Meanwhile, Sha’Carri Richardson, who has had more bark than bite in recent races, was a close second-place finisher in the 100m. The 21-year-old American, who was ninth in the 100m in Eugene last month and fourth over 200m in Brussels on September 3, clocked 11.19, the same time as winner Javianne Oliver.

It was an American 1-2-3 as Candace Hill finished third in 11.26. Olympic relay gold medalist Briana Williams finished fifth in a pedestrian 11.44.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce leads a strong 61-member Jamaica team headed to the Olympic Games this summer.

The Pocket Rocket leads a strong female contingent that includes 2016 Olympic sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah as well as ‘surprise’ elite sprinter Shericka Jackson. In-form Stephenie-Ann McPherson and rising talent Candice McLeod are also included as well as rising sprint hurdlers Megan Tapper and Britany Anderson.

Briana Williams, the 2018 World U20 sprint double champion makes her first Olympic team as a reserve for the 100m and a member of the 4x100m relay squad.

Yohan Blake, the 2012 double Olympic silver medalist also makes the team along with Demish Gaye and the proven 110m hurdles trio of Ronald Levy, the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion, Damion Thomas and Hansle Parchment.

The full team comprises

 (100m Men): Tyquendo Tracey, Yohan Blake, and Oblique Seville. Julian Forte (r).

100m Women) Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, Elaine Thompson-Herah. Briana Williams (r).

4x100m relay Men Jevaughn Minzie, Nigel Ellis.

4x100m Women: Remona Burchell, Natasha Morrison.

200m Men: Rasheed Dwyer, Yohan Blake, Julian Forte

200m Women: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, Elaine Thompson-Herah. Natasha Morrison (r)

400m Men: Demish Gaye, Christopher Taylor, Sean Bailey. Nathon Allen (r)

400m Women: Stephenie Ann McPherson, Candice McLeod, Roneisha McGregor. Stacey Ann Williams ®

4x400m Men: Nathon Allen, Karayme Bartley, Rusheen McDonald. Nathon Allen ®

4X400M Women: Stacey Ann Williams, Tovea Jenkins, Junelle Bromfield.

4x400 Men: Karayme Bartley, Rusheen McDonald.

800m: Natoya Goule

110m hurdles: Ronald Levy, Damion Thomas, Hansle Parchment. Phillip Lemonious ®

100m hurdles: Megan Tapper, Yanique Thompson, Britany Anderson. Danielle Williams ®

400m hurdles Men: Jaheel Hyde, Kemar Mowatt, Shawn Rowe. Leonardo Ledgister ®

400m hurdles Women: Janieve Russell, Ronda Whyte, Leah Nugent. Shian Salmon ®

1500M Aisha Praught *

Long jump Men: Tajay Gayle, Carey McLeod.

Long jump Women: Tissanna Hickling, Chanice Porter

Triple jump Men: Carey McLeod

Triple jump women: Shanieka Ricketts, Kimberly Williams

Shot Put Women: Danniel Thomas-Dodd, Lloydricka Cameron *

Discus Men: Fedrick Dacres, Chad Wright, Traves Smikle

Discus Women: Shadae Lawrence

4x400m Mixed Relays: Javier Brown, Keeno Burrell, Davonte Burnett, Tiffany James, Charokee Young, Kemba Nelson.

Elaine Thompson-Herah won both the 100 and 200m at the inaugural NACAC New Life Invitational in Miramar, Florida, on Saturday.

Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, Olympic and World Championships 400m bronze medalist and former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell have been named to a Jamaican selection that has named to participate in the World Relays set for May 1-2 in Chorzow, Poland.