Visa delay disrupts Kenyan sprinter's travel to World Championships
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E-mail Xinhua, July 13, 2022
NAIROBI, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Africa's fastest man, Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, is concerned about his fate for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon as he is yet to receive his United States visa, two days before the start of the men's 100m competition.
The global track and field showpiece in Eugene, Oregon gets underway on Friday with the men's 100m preliminary round among the events of the morning session.
Omanyala, the African champion, is concerned he will not make it to the starting line-up if he does not travel by the end of Wednesday.
"Sad I have not traveled to Oregon yet and 100m is in two days. Visa delays," the 26-year-old sprinter, who also anchored Kenya to victory in the 4x100m relay at the 2022 African Athletics Championships in June, posted on his social media account on Wednesday.
Speaking to a local radio station on Wednesday, Omanyala, who is still in Kenya while most of his teammates have already traveled to America, said he had remained behind with the team manager hoping to have the travel issue resolved before it's too late.
"It takes almost 22 hours to get there, and you need time to rest and also to train a bit to shake the jetlag. I am just hoping to leave today so that I get there on Thursday night and rest a bit," the eighth-fastest men's 100m runner of all time told Capital FM.
The emergence of Omanyala on the global sprinting scene over the last two seasons has made the world sit and take notice.
The former rugby player blasted to his lifetime best of 9.77 seconds in September 2021 at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi to catapult himself to the eighth fastest 100m runner of all time.
In May, Omanyala ran 9.85 seconds at the 2022 Kip Keino Classic to win the 100m and beat American Olympic silver medalist Fred Kerley to the finish line.
Ranked number seven in the world in 100m ahead of the global track and field meet, Omanyala underlined his form by clinching the men's 100m and 4x100m relay double at the African championships in Mauritius last month.
He returned home to easily win the Kenyan trial for Oregon on June 25 where he ran 10.03, with a -2.3m/s headwind derailing his efforts to run faster. Enditem
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