Kenyan Sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala celebrates after winning the 100m race in 9.85 seconds during Kip keino Classic-World Continental tour gold in Nairobi, May 7, 2022. (Photo by FRED MUTUNE/Xinhua)
African champion Ferdinand Omanyala finally got his visa to travel to the Oregon22 24 hours before the 100m preliminaries.
NAIROBI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Africa's fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala faces a race against time to make it to the starting line of the men's 100m heats of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on Friday.
This is after the Kenyan star sprinter finally got his visa on Thursday to travel to the United States barely 24 hours before the start of the competition.
Omanyala and his management were sweating on Thursday morning that he would not have an opportunity to run in the men's 100m heats in Oregon due to visa delays.
However, news broke early Thursday afternoon that he and other members of the Kenyan delegation had finally been granted the travel documents.
The African champion and his colleagues were cleared to travel after frenetic efforts between the governments involved with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta intervening to ensure the star athlete, 26, would travel to America.
"Visa challenges are faced by all Kenyans and people daily," Omanyala said in a statement posted on his social media handles of Twitter and Instagram.
He thanked President Kenyatta and top government officials for their quick intervention.
"We are very pleased to secure both USA and UK visas for all our athletes including our sensational athlete Ferdinand Omanyala. Our athletes are now set for both the World Championships and Commonwealth Games," the Sports Ministry said on its social media account.
Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya competes during the men's 60m heat at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Stark Arena, Belgrade, Serbia, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Predrag Milosavljevic/Xinhua)
From despair to a scramble to make it to Oregon in time, Omanyala's visa delay dominated the headlines in Kenya since it emerged on Wednesday afternoon that he was still in Nairobi and had not traveled with the rest of the athletes.
The African sprint champion now has to endure a flight of over 22 hours from Nairobi to Oregon via connections with his departure set for 6.00 pm local time on Thursday.
"I am still in Kenya, I don't understand why my passport is still in the US Embassy. Officials have been working on it overnight and I'm hoping to get some positive news but either way, the race is tomorrow (Friday) and I can't make it," the distraught 26-year-old had said earlier in a call-in to a local radio morning show on Vybez Radio.
Major TV channels in the country flashed breaking news tickers as soon as Omanyala released a statement through his management.
"Omanyala" and "Visa" were the two most trending topics in Kenya on Twitter on Thursday morning as the country took to social media to express shock, anger, and disbelief.
Omanyala set the African men's 100 meters record after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds at the Kip Keino Classic meeting in Nairobi in September 2021.
In May, he beat the Olympic silver medalist and one of the rank favorites for the 100m title in Oregon, Fred Kerley of the U.S. at the 2022 Kip Keino Classic where he ran 9.85. ■
