Just days away from the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee on Saturday, the Ethiopian national team will be without at least 14 member of its senior and U20 roster after being denied visas from the United States.
Ethiopian Athletics Federation confirmed on Wednesday that several of its athletes, officials and coaches have experienced problems with their visa applications despite submitting multiple requests.
No reason was given by the United States Department of State for the denials.
But among those who did not receive a rejection is 2024 U20 women’s world cross country winner Marta Alemayo, who took the race in 19:28 that year at just 15 years old and led an Ethiopian podium sweep with teammates Asayech Ayichew and Robe Dida.
Alemayo, 17, also helped power Ethiopia to the overall U20 title in Belgrade at the 2024 event and looks to repeat in the women’s junior race on Saturday.
Ethiopia has had to quickly compensate and will use other athletes who already hold prior U.S. visas and can travel with the other members of the delegation. They submitted 34 travel visa applications in December and 23 were denied.
Ethiopia’s full roster is still listed on World Athletics’ entry list for Saturday’s event with 246 total athletes entered in the senior races, 163 athletes in the U20 race and 15 mixed relay teams. The governing body said that it will update the list and release the full entries prior to the competition.
There are 39 countries on the Trump administration’s foreign travel ban for entry into the U.S., Ethiopia is not listed. The advisory initially listed 19 countries and was updated on December 16. The travel restrictions are either total bans or partial suspensions and impact 24 African nations. In a fact sheet accompanying the proclamation, the nations facing travel restrictions where described as having “severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats.”
Ethiopia has been cross country powerhouse on the world stage alongside Kenya, with the nations grabbing the top two podium spot in the men’s and women’s senior team competition in the bulk of the championships since 1981. The same success has translated to Ethiopia’s junior team, which has won the last five U20 women’s titles with the men’s U20 squad last winning the team championship in 2013, 2017 and 2019.
