Cape Town - Many South African athletes had a nightmare build-up to the world championships due to a visa delay, and it affected their performances in Eugene, Oregon on the opening day.
Sprinter Akani Simbine was the only athlete to advance to the next round of competition in the 100m at the Hayward Field stadium at the University of Oregon.
Simbine finished fourth in his heat in a time of 10.07 seconds, and even though only the top three go through to the semi-finals automatically, the South African qualified as one of the 'fastest losers'.
Young sensation Letsile Tebogo won Simbine's heat in a new Under-20 world record of 9.94.
It was no surprise that in-form American Fred Kerley set the pace with the fastest time in the first round, clocking a superb 9.79 - and he looked like he had hardly exerted himself at the finish - to underline his credentials as the favourite for the gold medal.
Men’s 100m Heat 5:
— Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo (@Fentuo_) July 16, 2022
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo wins Heat 5 (9.94) with a world u-20 record to progress to the semi finals but South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished in a disappointing 4th (10.07) and now faces elimination. #Oregon2022
The 100m semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday (Sunday morning 3am and 4.50am SA time respectively).
For the other SA sprinters, though, it was an experience to forget. Gift Leotlela and Clarence Munyai were among the group of athletes stuck in Italy until Thursday as they were still waiting for US visas or waivers to travel to Oregon.
They got a belated clearance, and arrived in Eugene on race-day, and both missed out on the next round.
Leotlela managed a smile when introduced in the starting blocks, but had to settle for fifth position in 10.19.
American Christian Coleman slowed down towards the finish to win the heat in 10.08.
😤😤😤@LetsileTebogo2 🇧🇼 powers to 9.94 in the 100m heats and breaks the world U20 record!
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 16, 2022
How fast will he go in the semis?#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/VU0y5Z4lNk
Munyai ended seventh in his heat in 10.47, which Japan's Abdul Brown won in 9.98.
Kenya's African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala, who was also affected by the visa issue, managed to get through to the semi-finals by finishing third in Munyai's heat in 10.10.
In the field events, SA champion Jovan van Vuuren, former bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai and Cheswill Johnson were all knocked out of the long jump competition.
With the top 12 qualifying for the final, Samaai was unlucky to miss out as he finished 15th with a season's best leap of 7.86m, which was just 7cm off 12th position.
Van Vuuren was 19th with 7.80m, while Johnson was unable to produce a legal jump.
Ischke Senekal came up with a 15.40m effort in the women's shot put and ended in 29th position.
In the men's 20km walk, Wayne Snyman had to deal with the heat on Friday afternoon in Oregon and finished 12th in one hour 21 minutes 23 seconds (1:21.23), with Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi claiming the gold medal in 1:19.07.
South Africa's 4x400m mixed relay did not reach the start line in their heat, ostensibly due to one of the athletes not arriving in time due to visa problems.
@AshfakMohamed