By: Anna Chuang

26-year-old Ferdinand Omanyala almost missed his 100-meter race at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, which could have changed his career completely.

Omanyala is known as Africa’s fastest man and holds the African record for the 100-meter, which he set in September 2021, with an incredibly fast time of 9.77 seconds.

Omanyala was scheduled to fly to Oregon on Monday so that he could have five days to prepare and settle in before his big race. But there was an unexplained delay with his U.S. Visa. Thankfully, it eventually arrived, but it arrived less than a day before his race. According to The Washington Post, When Omanyala awoke Thursday morning, he said, “I had already given up coming here. I was supposed to run on Friday. God works miracles.” Omanyala boarded the plane after he received his visa, and landed at around 4:15 pm, less than three hours until his race which was scheduled at 6:50. He ferried straight to Hayward Field, the stadium where he would compete, right after he arrived in Oregon. He arrived at the stadium less than two hours before his race.

When Omanyala finished his preliminary round, he got a time of 10.10 seconds. Luckily, he made it to the semifinals even after running slower than his best time, but unfortunately, he was eliminated after the semifinals and couldn’t precede to the final round with a time of 10.14 seconds.

According to USA Today, he said, “I never knew I was tired until I ran that race.” He was able to get some rest since he was in business class, and he said that he probably wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was in economy.

But even after he hit a stroke of bad luck, Omanyala still kept his head high, stayed positive, and continued working hard. As stated in Standard Media, he posted on his social media platform, “Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow. The challenge of life is intended to make you better, not bitter. Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. No matter how much falls on us, we keep moving.”