The gold medals in the senior races might have been hauled away by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo and Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships on Saturday, but Ethiopia surged to the top overall team prizes in spite of well publicized visa issues before the event.
Ethiopia scored 30 points in the men’s race with Kenya taking second at 34 and Uganda at 39. They were even more dominant in the women’s race, posting an impressive 19 points, as Kenya finished second with 36 and Uganda had 37 points.
The final point order of both races might seems like the obvious detail but Ethiopia pulled off its feat without a gold medal in either event. Its lone win at Apalachee Regional Park came in the women’s U20 race as rising star Marta Alemayo bolted to a 18:52 victory as teammate Wosane Asefa grabbed silver in 19:18.
But neither of Ethiopia’s U20 squads cracked the top 10 in overall standings like their senior counterparts.
Still, the team wins on the big stage highlighted Ethiopia’s depth and how it adapted to visa problems with at least 14 members of its delegation having their travel applications rejected by the United States Department of State in December.
The numbers behind the results on Saturday tell the deeper story as Ethiopia placed three runners in the top ten of the men’s senior race (30 points) as Berihu Aregawi took sliver, while Tadese Worku finished fourth and Biniam Mehary was sixth. Nibret Kinde was 18th and was Ethiopia’s final qualifier since only the top four finishers from each team contribute to the scoring.
1. Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) – 28:18
2. Berihu Aregawi (Ethiopia) – 28:36
3. Daniel Simiu Ebenyo (Kenya) – 28:45
4. Tadese Worku (Ethiopia) – 28:49
5. Ishmael Kipkurui (Kenya) – 28:53
6. Biniam Mehary (Ethiopia) – 29:03
7. Dolphine Chelimo (Uganda) – 29:07
8. Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) – 29:16
9. Denis Kipkoech Kemboi Kipkemoi (Kenya) – 29:18
10. Keneth Kiprop (Uganda) – 29:20
In the women’s senior race, Ethiopia was even more assertive, with Senayet Getachew, Asayech Ayichew, Aleshign Baweke and Alem Tsadik all scoring in the top ten — with three top five finishes for 19 points.
1. Agnes Jebet Ngetich (Kenya) – 31:28
2. Joy Cheptoyek (Uganda) – 32:10
3. Senayet Getachew (Ethiopia) – 32:13
4. Asayech Ayichew (Ethiopia) – 32:44
5. Aleshign Baweke (Ethiopia) – 32:49
6. Rispa Cherop (Uganda) – 32:52
7. Alem Tsadik (Ethiopia) – 33:00
8. Maurine Chebor (Kenya) – 33:06
9. Sarah Chelangat (Uganda) – 33:20
10. Ednah Kurgat (USA) – 33:28
And while Ethiopia was not expected to be depleted on Saturday, questions about how World Athletics responded to the visa issues and of the governing body lobbied on behalf of the nation to the U.S. were asked by journalist’s at Friday’s athlete press conference.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe appeared neutral, at best, on the matter and drew attention to the 52 nations represented across all five races along with the 485 athletes and reserves who actually made the trip to Tallahassee.
When asked to explain in detail about the reports of the athletes impacted by the visa refusals, Coe refused but still offered some remarks.
“It’s not a running commentary I think that’s appropriate,” Coe said. “But what I would say is visas are an increasingly complicated issue and not certainly limited to where we are here. It isn’t just one factor. It can be about administrative timeliness. It can be about various post holders and access to those post holders.”
Coe continued, “We’re living in a more complicated world and we need to continually learn from that. We’ve had great support on those particular issues from the United States Olympics and Paralympic committee, [USATF] have been incredibly helpful as have local authorities.”
Visa issues for athletes will likely continue this year with 39 countries on the current foreign travel ban for entry into the U.S.
Despite Ethiopia not being on the list, 24 African nations face either total bans or partial suspensions with the travel restriction fact sheet referencing all of the countries listed as having “severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats.”
And with the FIFA World Cup being hosted at numerous sites in the U.S. in June, nearly two dozen nations like Haiti, Iran Senegal and Eritrea that have qualified face uncertain fates on whether their players will be allowed to travel.
