Skeleton trailblazer Akwasi Frimpong hopes to motivate African athletes in his final year

Trailblazing Ghanaian skeleton athlete Akwasi Frimpong hopes to inspire more Africans to pursue winter sports, as he sets his sights on one last Olympic appearance next year before retiring. 

Frimpong has become a symbol of perseverance and ambition with his groundbreaking achievements, and he strives to open new opportunities for athletes from Africa in sports that are traditionally dominated by other countries. 

With this goal in mind, the athlete said: “I don’t want to be the first and the last… I’m doing everything that I can to push myself for one more Olympic Games, to continue that narrative, and with the hope that others are listening and watching and that we don’t close that door when I’m done.” 

Frimpong’s athletic journey 

The 39-year-old athlete made history in 2018 when he and Nigerian Simidele Adeagbo became the first African skeleton racers to compete in the Olympics. Now, he is set to begin his fifth World Championships in Lake Placid. 

He aims to surpass his best result at the World Championships, where he finished 28th last year, despite missing the first half of the season when he was recovering from foot surgery. He plans to retire after the 2026 Games. 

Over the past two months, he has delivered several strong performances, including an 11th-place finish at the North American Cup in Park City in January. The athlete said: “I feel like I’ve done decent, but I know I can do much better… I’m not quite there where I wanted to be at. But it’s important to be patient.” 

Frimpong made it to the 2018 Games partly thanks to a continental quota programme, which was not available four years later. As a result, he missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics after contracting COVID-19 in the lead-up. While he has a strong chance of qualifying for the Milano Cortina Games next year based on his rankings, he is concerned that without a similar continental quota system in the future, other African athletes might be discouraged from even trying the sport. 

He admitted: “I’ve come in at a time in my life right now where it’s all about the next generation, and I’m doing everything that I can to lay a path out there… It’s going to be really tough for us to keep Africa in the sport. And that’s something that I’m very sad about.”