Uncertainly as Africa’s fastest man receives US Visa less than 24 hours to World Championships in Oregon

• Omanyala received his US visa in the eleventh hour, and is hoping to make it in time for the World Championships in Oregon
• The sprinter was scheduled to race as early as Saturday morning, Kenyan time, at the World Athletics Championships
• Delays with his Visa means Africa's fastest man has less than 24 hours to make it to the US

Ferdinand Omanyala is in an unfamiliar race against time to make it to the World Athletics Championships after finally receiving his US Visa.

Omayala was an obvious inclusion in the entry list for the 100m event at the World Championships, which will kick off in Eugene, Oregon on Friday, July 15.

But by Wednesday, the sprinter’s spokesperson revealed there was still no word on the status of his visa, further casting doubt on whether the fast man would make it to Oregon.

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"Ferdinand is still waiting for his visa or alternative clearance to depart from Nairobi," a spokesperson for Omanyala told Reuters.

24 hours later and there was a still uncertainly to whether Omanyala would compete as he was yet to be granted his Visa.

On Thursday, at around 12 pm Kenyan time, however, there was an update that Africa's fastest man had the pass to travel to the US.

The sprinter’s first race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 16 at 8:30 am Kenyan time (10.30 pm in Oregon).

There was initially a lot of optimism surrounding the Kenyan ahead of the championships, and he was tipped to make the semis and potentially go all the way to the final.

What went wrong for Omanyala?

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Sports Brief has since learnt that Omanyala was initially supposed to travel alongside the first batch of 19 other athletes who used three different flights: Qatar Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Lufthansa Airlines on Tuesday.

That did not happen, of course, and Omanyala also missed the trip with the second batch of athletes on Wednesday.