NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 14 – After days of agony and distress, African record holder Ferdinand Omanyala will finally travel to Eugene, United States 6pm Thursday, slightly over 24 hours to his race at the World Athletics Championships.
Omanyala got his visa on Thursday morning and Athletics Kenya (AK) officials were in a race against time to find him the fastest flight route to the United States.
“I can confirm that we have managed to get a 6pm flight for Omanyala and he will arrive just in time for his race,” Athletics Kenya Executive Committee member Barnaba Korir told Capital Sports.
The 100m race is on the cards on the opening day of the Championship, with the preliminary rounds set for 10:30pm. Due to his time of 9.85secs clocked at the Kip Keino Classic, Omanyala heads straight to the heats which start at 4:50am Kenyan time.
Omanyala’s Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) is at 4pm Oregon time, which is 2am Kenyan time, only two and a half hours before his race.
Omanyala will now look to turn the hustle into strength to make history as he looks to become Kenya’s first ever sprint medalist at the World Championships.
“By this morning, it looked to be very difficult and at some point we had given up on it. But I told him if he gets the visa and gets a flight that gets him there even 100 minutes before the race, he should go and compete. He is a tough lad,” his coach Duncan Ayemba told Capital Sports.
