JAMAICA’S Bryan Levell stunned with a scintillating personal best 9.82 seconds to break the meet record in the men’s 100m at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open Eisenstadt at the Leichtathletik Arena on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old 200m national champion made a massive statement at the World Athletics Continental Tour silver meet, signalling that he should be in the conversation for a medal at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, as he broke his previous best 9.94 set at the national championships last month.

He was one of several Jamaican winners and meet record breakers at the event. Among them was women’s 200m champion Ashanti Moore, who ran a lifetime best 22.40 (0.9m/s) to qualify for the event at the World Championships in September.

Levell’s time is the eighth-fastest ever by a Jamaican man in the event and saw him move 10 places up the Jamaican all-time rankings. He is second in the world so far this year.

The former Edwin Allen High standout, who ran a wind-aided 19.79 seconds in the 200m at the Racers Grand Prix last month, replaces compatriot Oblique Seville as the second-fastest man over 100 metres in the world this year. Levell’s effort is behind Kishane Thompson’s 9.75, the Jamaican speedsters occupying the top three spots on the World Athletics rankings.

Levell had run 10.11 seconds (0.6m/s) in the first round, which performance had broken the meet record 10.16 set by Yohan Blake last year.

South Africa’s Abduraqhman Karriem was second in 10.07 and Japan’s Yoshide Kiryu was third with 10.08.

Moore became the fourth Jamaican to achieve the qualifying mark for the World Championships after she broke the meet record 23.38 set last year by Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria.

Moore, who also represented Jamaica at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, lowered her previous best 22.49 set in 2023. She dipped under the World Championships qualifying time of 22.57 seconds.

The former Hydel High athlete joins men’s 200m runner Adrian Kerr; men’s 800m record holder Navasky Anderson; and women’s discus thrower Samantha Hall as athletes who have attained the World Championships qualifying standard since the national championships.

Another Jamaican, Candice McLeod, was second in a season’s best 23.73 — the same time credited to Italian Valentina Cavalleri, her personal best.

Kadrian Goldson ran a personal best 20.32 (0.9m/s) to lower the meet record in the men’s 200m, breaking the 20.47 set by Canadian Brendon Rodney in 2022.

Goldson also bettered his previous lifetime best 20.57 set at the national championships.

Delano Kennedy was second, also in a personal best 20.70, beating his previous best 21.21 set in 2023. Uganda’s Emmanuel Aboda placed third in 21.12.

Adelle Tracey was third in the women’s 800m, running 2:01.29, as Great Britain’s Revee Walcott-Nolan set a meet record 2:01.00. Austria’s Caroline Bredlinger was second in 2:01.07.

— Paul A Reid

Ashanti Moore (Photo: Garfield Robinson)