Jamaica’s sprint hurdles champion Ronald Levy defeated a heartbroken Omar McLeod at the Diamond League meeting held earlier today (July 13) in Gateshead, England, where Elaine Thompson-Herah and Stephenie-Ann McPherson continued their respective tune-ups for the Olympics with impressive victories.

McLeod created quite a stir at the pre-meet press conference on Monday when he called out the Jamaican athletic authorities for not giving him a fair chance to defend his Olympic title in Tokyo, Japan later this month. He called their decision to host the semi-finals and the finals at the trials on different days “absurd” and “stupid”.

As fate would have it, he would line up against Levy, who won at the Jamaican trials where McLeod finished eighth after hitting the hurdles early in the race. The Commonwealth champion hurdled shoulder to shoulder with the disgruntled 2016 Olympic champion and then pulled away over the last three hurdles to win in 13.22.

“I just came out here to execute. I fell short at the start, but I picked it up at the end,” said Levy.

McLeod made it a Jamaican 1-2 after he crossed in 13.42 and revealed afterwards that he had not been focused on training since the disappointment at the Jamaican trials.

“It was a good race, seeing as I haven’t trained very hard since my Jamaican trials. I am a bit out of it but happy to finish healthy,” he said.

“Now, I’m just going to try and finish the season well and keep putting in the performances. I’ve got to get some quality work in and then we can see where we go from there.”

Great Britain’s Andrew Pozzi was third in 13.45.

Meanwhile, Thompson-Herah was a much happier camper after winning the 200m in 22.43. She finished ahead of Jodie Williams who ran a season-best 22.60 and Blessing Okagbare who was third in 22.61.

She wasn’t necessarily happy with the time but said the win has helped boost her confidence as she heads into Tokyo to defend her titles.

“It helps me to build my confidence to get that win on the board. It may not be my fastest time but I’m still pleased with that,” she said.

“I need to get the work in to get that curve as quick as possible and keep pushing forward. Tokyo will be my second Olympics and I’m pretty excited now. I’ve been there and I know what it feels like and even though there are no crowds I will hope to put on a show.”

McPherson also expressed her confidence after her easy win in the 400m.

She cruised to victory in 50.44 to finish well clear of Jodie Williams, who ran a personal best 50.94.

Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands took the final podium spot with 51.54.

“It’s been a hard two weeks in training and I came out here to Gateshead to work on my technique and other areas,” she said. “Now the preparation begins and watch out for Stephenie McPherson.”

Donald Thomas of the Bahamas cleared 2.25 to win the high jump over Marco Fassinotti, who cleared the same height but lost on the countback having missed once at 2.22m and twice at 2.25m.

Fabian Delryd of Sweden cleared 2.22m to finish third.

Thomas said afterwards, that he was looking forward to competing in Tokyo.

“I’m just glad to be here and thank god I can prepare for Tokyo,” Thomas beamed.

“It’s a privilege to be jumping and I want to say thanks for the invite. My preparation is going good and I’m looking forward to Tokyo.