Emmanuel Bor Explains Why He Won’t Compete at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships “We greatly respect the talent and dedication of all our Soldier athletes. Sgt. Bor’s safety is our number one priority.”
By Jonathan Gault
March 14, 2022
Editor’s note: The initial title of this article was “Because of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, A US Soldier Has Been Pulled From The World Track and Field Championships.” However, the WCAP’s official position is that Bor is not traveling due to the State Department’s advisory not to travel to Serbia.On February 26, the US Army’s Emmanuel Bor finished second behind Cole Hocker in the USATF Indoor 3,000-meter final, earning a berth on the US team for the world indoor track & field championships (officially known as the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships), which begin on Friday in Belgrade, Serbia. The result was significant as it would be the first time the 33-year-old Bor would get to represent the red, white, and blue at the World Championships on the track. Last week, he found out that he will not be able to compete there.
Bor is a member of the US Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), which allows him to train full-time as he fulfills his military service. In order for a WCAP athlete to compete at an overseas competition, they must be granted leave by the Army. Usually this leave is approved for a World Championship event, as it was for Bor when he represented the USA at the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark in 2019. But on March 8, Bor was informed by his commander, Captain Robert Cheseret, that his leave was not granted, forcing him to miss World Indoors.
Bor told LetsRun his leave was denied for “security reasons” and declined to elaborate beyond that, directing further questions to an Army communications official. But when asked if those reasons had anything to do with Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine (which began February 24, two days before his race at USAs), Bor said, “Yes, correct.”
LetsRun reached out to the Army for an explanation for why Bor’s leave was not granted.
“The U.S. State Department advisory discourages travel to Serbia at this time,” said Cheseret in a statement to LetsRun.com. “We greatly respect the talent and dedication of all our Soldier athletes. Sgt. Bor’s safety is our number one priority.” ...
More at Let's RunHis role in the U.S. Army is to be a world-class runner and compete against other world-class runners. That's his job, except this week the Army won't let him do it.
