London: British athletics have suffered its highest-profile doping case for a decade after double Olympic sprinter Nigel Levine failed a drugs test.
Levine, a 400-metre runner and an integral part of the British relay team, missed the entire 2017 season after suffering a broken pelvis in a motorbike accident in January.
He returned to training earlier this year and was planning his comeback after being retained on British Athletics funding, but is alleged to have tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol. It is believed he is now awaiting the result of his B sample to see whether it confirms the positive A sample test.
UK Anti-Doping regulations state that should the B sample not confirm the initial result, the entire test would be considered negative and no action taken against the athlete. Levine, born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Northamptonshire, has been a mainstay of the British 4 x 400m team since his senior international debut in 2009.
He has twice won European relay gold and made it on to three world indoor podiums as part of British 4 x 400m teams. The 28-year-old, who had been working with Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie’s group, was unavailable for comment, while UK Athletics and UK Anti-Doping do not discuss ongoing cases.
British athletics has been largely free of high-profile failed drugs tests since Dwain Chambers was banned for two years when he tested positive for multiple substances in 2003. Former 100m hurdler Callum Priestley had been rated one of the UK’s most exciting prospects until he tested positive for clenbuterol in 2010 and quit the sport after being handed a two-year ban.
Clenbuterol is used primarily in the treatment of asthma and other breathing disorders, but it also has performance-enhancing qualities as a weight-loss drug.
