The balance of the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships has shifted before the opening gun, after U.S. visa denials prevented Ethiopia from entering full teams in the under-20 events.
The development, first reported by LetsRun.com, affects at least 14 Ethiopian athletes and has left the nation without the minimum number of runners required to register team results in either the men’s or women’s junior races when competition begins this weekend in Tallahassee.
While Ethiopia will still appear in the senior races, the impact is most significant at the under-20 level, where depth and continuity have long defined the country’s presence. Team scoring at World Cross Country requires four finishers, a threshold Ethiopia will not meet in either junior category after only one men’s and three women’s athletes received visa approval.
Among the athletes cleared to compete is 17-year-old Marta Alemayo, the reigning world under-20 cross country champion, who will start as an individual rather than as part of a scoring team. On the men’s side, Ayele Sewnet will be Ethiopia’s lone representative.
According to information provided to LetsRun.com by Ethiopian Athletics Federation general secretary Amensisa Kebede, the federation submitted its initial visa applications to the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa on December 12, with a second round filed later in the month.
More than two-thirds of the applications were rejected, and no formal explanation was given despite documentation from World Athletics, the local organizing committee, and Ethiopia’s foreign ministry.
Although junior athletes made up the majority of those denied entry, several senior runners were also affected, including members of Ethiopia’s mixed relay squad. In those cases, the federation was able to call in replacements who already held valid U.S. visas, preserving full lineups for the senior men’s and women’s races.
As a result, Ethiopia will still field elite contenders such as Berihu Aregawi, a two-time World Cross Country silver medalist, alongside teenage standout Biniam Mehary. Their participation ensures that the senior races remain largely intact, even as the junior competitions are reshaped.
World Athletics has acknowledged awareness of the visa issues since mid-December and has been working alongside the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee in an effort to address the situation. Visa complications, however, have repeatedly disrupted global championships hosted in the United States and elsewhere, limiting participation for some federations despite early planning.
With the United States scheduled to host the World Athletics Under-20 Championships later this year, the situation in Tallahassee has prompted concern within the Ethiopian federation about future access for its junior athletes, particularly given the country’s central role in global distance running.
The championships will still unfold as planned, but the under-20 races will do so without one of their defining forces. In a discipline where team depth is often decisive, Ethiopia’s reduced presence represents a rare and consequential disruption, altering expectations before the athletes ever reach the course.
