Jamaica’s former world 100 metres record holder Asafa Powell, 30, said yesterday he had tested positive for a banned stimulant at last month’s National Championships.

“I will confirm that a sample I gave at the National Trials in June earlier this year has returned “adverse findings”, Powell said in a statement to Reuters.

Powell, who has never won an individual global sprint title, held the 100m world record between 2005 and 2008 when his then-best of 9.74 seconds was broken by current record holder and fellow-Jamaican Usain Bolt.

Powell was reportedly one of five Jamaicans to have tested positive.

But they do not include Bolt, whose agent Ricky Simms said: “I was just with him in Jamaica and we’ve had no information and we’ve not been contacted by anyone.”

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