World Athletics Championships: GB's Chris Thompson to miss marathon because of visa delay

Thompson fought through severe heat and humidity to finish 54th in the Tokyo Olympics

British athlete Chris Thompson will miss Sunday's marathon at the World Championships in Oregon because of delays processing his US visa.

The 41-year-old was set to compete in his first World Championships after finishing as the top Briton in last year's Tokyo Olympics.

"I'm absolutely devastated I won't be in Eugene to compete," said Thompson. "This was my major aim for the year.

"It should never have got to this point and it's hard to believe it has."

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Organisers said on Friday that less than 1% of athletes in need of a visa had been denied the paperwork to enter the United States or were still waiting for a response.

African 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala is one of those affected. The Kenyan has had his visa approved but is set to arrive in Eugene just a few hours before his heats.

UK Athletics said it had been in close liaison with World Athletics over Thompson's application and had asked for help from the UK government, but had been unable to resolve the issue in time for him to run in the marathon, which will begin at 14:15 BST on Sunday.

Thompson has competed in the United States numerous times, most recently taking part in the 2018 New York Marathon.

World Athletics president Lord Coe has admitted that Thompson would not be the only athlete whose hopes of competing were dashed by paperwork problems.

"We will work right up to the last minute but will we be able to resolve all those issues in time for the start of competition? No, we won't be," Lord Coe told BBC Sport Africa earlier on Friday.

"The one thing which is clear to me as we battle to do as much as we possibly can is it is complicated. In relative percentage terms, it's a small number but it's of no comfort if you are in that category."