Visa problems decimate Ethiopian team for Florida World Cross Championships
Athletics - World Athletics Championship - Women's 10,000m - National Athletics Centre, Budapest, Hungary - August 19, 2023 Ethiopia's Ejgayehu Taye, Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay and Kenya's Agnes Jebet Ngetich in action during the final REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
Audio By Vocalize
Letsrun.com revealed this week that the United States has rejected 14 athlete visa applications from Ethiopia. It has mainly affected the under-20 teams but officials, coaches, senior athletes and relay runners from the east African nation also had problems despite the organisers being well aware of likely issues.
Yet Ethiopia aside, the number of countries missing from the event is alarming.
The list of no-shows in Tallahassee includes Italy, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ukraine, Turkey and Switzerland – to name just a few.
In addition, Belgium has only one runner (in the under-20 men's race) while Netherlands also has just one athlete (senior women's race).
Denmark and Serbia have hosted the event in recent years, too, but are not supporting the 2026 championships.
Leave a Comment