African champion and world record holder Ferdinand Omanyala’s hopes of winning gold at the World Championships in Oregon are uncertain after he failed to travel to the United States due to Visa issues.
The Kenyan sprint sensation who is aiming to put sprinting on the map in a country where the long-distance runner is king will also take part in the Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham in July 28 to August 9 in England.
The 26-year-old who became the first Kenyan sprinter to reach an Olympic semi-final at the Tokyo Games last year is among six Team Kenya members who had not secured their travelling visas on Tuesday ahead of Championship commencement on Friday.
“I have remained with the TM and we are still waiting to hear from them. They told us they would be calling us and so it is just a matter of time. Of course it is worrying because my first race is on Friday and this is a long flight,” Omanyala said.
“It takes almost 22 hours to get there and as a sportsman you need sometime to rest and also train a bit to shake the jet lag. Looking at all circumstances and my first race being on Friday, I am just hoping I can leave today (Wednesday) so that I get there Thursday night and rest up a bit,” he added.
The Kenyan athlete qualified for the World Championships early after clocking 9/85secs to win the Kip Keino Classic. At the National Trials, he clocked 10.04secs under heavy wind, but still ran within the qualifying time.
The Kenyan team which is travelling in batches depending on the dates of their respective competitions had the first lot leaving on Tuesday night for the event scheduled for July 15 and 24.
Omanyala had said he targets to reach the final at the World Championships and vie for any medal, having reached the semis of both the Olympic Games and the World Indoor Championships earlier this year.
The preliminaries of the 100m start on Friday at 12:30pm and the Kenyan is on a race against time to ensure he gets his visa on time and travels.
Omanyala will be Kenya’s sole representative in the men’s 100m in Oregon while in Birmingham he will be accompanied by Samuel Imeta, who was part of the 4x100m relay team that clinched gold at the Senior Africa Athletics Championships in Mauritius.
The team will be seeking to surpass the superlative showing they had at the last edition in Doha, Qatar, where Kenya finished second with 11 medals — five gold , 2 silver and four bronze.
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