Three years ago, Akwasi Frimpong made history as the first-ever skeleton athlete from Ghana to compete at the Olympics.
“You cannot just think you’ve been to the Olympic games and that’s it,” said Frimpong. “You gotta keep up with the hard work, you gotta stay hungry, you gotta keep grinding.”
That is exactly what he is doing. And he is currently doing it in Russia.
Frimpong, who lives in Utah, has been training twice per day in Russia for the past eight weeks.
“Russia is the only nation that reached out to me that they were willing to support me,” said the 2018 Olympian. “It took awhile, for them to think about it, for them to talk to the federation and their team about it because it is another athlete they have to give attention to. They came back with a great answer, they were willing to support me for Beijing 2022.”
They are supporting a winner. Last February, Akwasi Frimpong won a sanctioned competition in Park City, Utah.
“And I was the first African ever to win an elite skeleton race,” he said. “So I’ve been doing well, obviously there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Including getting healthy. Frimpong has been dealing with a nagging Achilles injury, but he says he will be good to go for Beijing.