DESPITE qualifying for the IAAF World Championship, Guyana’s Winston George could find himself not attending athletics’ second biggest showpiece (after the Olympics) in London next month.

The event, set for August 4 – 13 in London, is being sold as Usain Bolt–the world’s fastest man over the 100 and 200 metres–final hooray at a major IAAF event as the Jamaican prepares to hang up his cleats.

George, who would’ve qualified for his third World Championships in the 200M and 400M, could see himself missing out as the eyes of the world zeroes in on Bolt’s alleged final ‘big meet’.

The 30-year-old George put on a show at Saturday’s Aliann Pompey Invitational–running a new National Record in the Mens 400M, when he clocked 45.16 seconds; erasing his old mark of 45.25 seconds which he set during the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China.

Speaking to reporters after wrapping up a double (200M and 400M) at the AP Invitational, George said “I’m not sure, let us just leave it at that; I’m not sure.”

However, in seeking clarification, president of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hudson, told Chronicle Sport he told George that his presence in London hangs in the balance since he’s behind the deadline in applying for his visa.

“When I initially spoke to Winston George, my communication was very clear. The IAAF would normally send us two tickets to the world championship because of the status we’re in, and we will not move from that status until we have more people qualifying for the games.
But what the AAG has been strategically doing every time we have a competition of such nature, is that we send all of our qualifiers,” Hudson said.

The AAG boss added that “what Winston George needs to do is hasten to get his visa issue straightened out. We’ve been calling him over and over, to come in, to sit down with us to have the application completed, and if he’s too late with it, it would be no fault on us that Winston George wouldn’t be at the World Championship.”

“Every single Guyanese require a visa; once you do not have a U.S. Passport. Right now the only athlete that doesn’t need a U.S. visa is Troy Doris. We would’ve completed application for both Brenessa (Thompson) and Kadecia Baird” Hudson highlighted.

Hudson said that the AAG intends to ensure that Guyana is properly represented at the World Championship, but urged George to corporate in order to have his visa.