Bryan Levell Blazes 9.82, Ashanti Moore Qualifies for Worlds with 22.40 PB at Austrian Open

Jamaica’s rising sprint stars Bryan Levell and Ashanti Moore delivered headline-grabbing performances at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in Eisenstadt on Wednesday, both setting new lifetime bests and stamping their authority ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September.

Bryan Levell, just 21 years old, scorched the track in the men’s 100m, clocking 9.82 seconds (+1.3 m/s) to win in emphatic style. The performance catapults him into elite territory as the second-fastest Jamaican in the world this year and the fourth Jamaican man to break the 9.90 barrier this season. Jamaica now has the three fastest men in the world in 2025 – Kishane Thompson (9.75), Bryan Levell (9.82) and Oblique Seville (9.83).

Levell’s margin of victory was decisive, well ahead of South Africa’s Abduraqhman Karriem (10.07) and Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu (10.08).

In the women’s 200m, Ashanti Moore continued her upward trajectory with a commanding run of 22.40 seconds (+1.2 m/s), a new personal best that also surpasses the World Championships qualifying standard of 22.57. Her winning time was the fastest across both sections of the final and further establishes her as a serious contender on the global stage.

The 24-year-old Moore, who has been consistently improving since the start of the season, now heads into Tokyo with momentum and confidence.

Fellow Jamaican Candice McLeod, who is still working her way back from injury, finished second in her heat with a season’s best 23.73, edging Italy’s Valentina Cavalleri, who was credited with the same time but placed third by a margin of three-thousandths of a second.

Levell’s explosive sub-9.90 performance and Moore’s well-executed qualifying run signal a strong upward trend for Jamaica’s next generation of sprinters. With Tokyo just weeks away, both athletes have made it clear: they’re not just aiming to show up — they’re coming to contend.