After the Beijing 2022 heartbreak, the Ghanaian skeleton racer has confirmed exclusively to Olympics.com that he is doubling down on his Olympic dream and bidding to make it to the next Winter Games in Italy.
Skeleton star Akwasi Frimpong is officially locking himself into Milano Cortina 2026.
Just over six months after being denied the chance to qualify for a second Olympic outing at Beijing 2022 due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, the 36-year-old confirmed exclusively to Olympics.com that he wants to try one more time to make his medal dream a reality at the next Winter Games.
“I’ve decided, a couple of months after missing the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, where I had a hard time, I’ve been talking to my family and to my coaches and to my support system and I have decided to go for another Olympic cycle: to go for another run for Milano Cortina 2026.”
Ahead of the Games in the Chinese capital the skeleton racer had been showing improved form in the sport. In 2020, he became the first skeleton athlete from Africa to win an elite skeleton race sanctioned by the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation in Park City, Utah.
Progress on the track is just one of the reasons he cited for getting back on the sled and making a second Olympic appearance:
“I have been improving, especially since last season in the sport of skeleton, which I’ve only been doing for about five and a half years. I feel physically in better shape than I’ve been in the last ten years with a lot of injuries that I had; I’m mentally doing well and I have unfinished business.”
Frimpong says he is feeling in better shape than ever – picture credit On Running
Frimpong says he is feeling in better shape than ever – picture credit On Running
Akwasi Frimpong on 2026: “You have to have a why”
Reflecting back on that dark December day in Dresden where his Beijing dreams unravelled, Frimpong said at the time he felt both devastated and heartbroken.
But he insists it was at that very low he found the strength in him to keep going:
“It’s easy to say right now. Then, obviously, when it happened, I did all my cussing and all my being mad. But, when things like that happen to us in life, it’s how we look at it and how we proceed from there, is really what makes the difference.
“We can choose to be defeated, to be broken, or we can choose to make the best of the situation and fight with every fibre of our being to do what matters most for ourselves and our family, and to just gain strength from there and to go after what we want.”
Showing others what resilience can do even when it is pushed to its absolute limit remains, as ever, a core part of Frimpong’s mission even when there are times he wishes he could go to the track and focus just on his sport like others around him.
However, thoughts of another, easier life soon fade when he recalls his own personal journey to this point and the power it has to touch others:
“I think we have a lot of wishes, but things happen to us and for us, and there’s a reason for everything. There’s a reason why I missed Beijing 2022, because it has strengthened me to fight for others as well. So, you have to have a why. My why is the people around me; my why is my daughters. I really want to show them that they can do hard things.
“I’ve come from a really difficult background being an illegal immigrant for 13 years, my family not having much and so when you do get to the position where you are right now, you really want to see what you can do to make a difference and I think that really strengthens me, that wakes me up every morning.
“It’s not easy, obviously. I wish that I could just go to the sliding track, with my backpack and my shoes. Everything was done for me. But at same time that is the reason who I am, what I am today. That’s the reason I’m able to do what I am doing today – to impact others.”
Impacting others is a key driver for Frimpong as he prepares for another Olympic cycle – picture credit On Running
Impacting others is a key driver for Frimpong as he prepares for another Olympic cycle – picture credit On Running
What’s next for the Black Panther on ice?
It was a belief imparted to Frimpong by his late grandmother that success is within everyone, it’s a matter of working hard to realise it.
As he embarks on another four-year-long journey to pursue his dream, supported by his wife and family, it’s obvious as the first Black male skeleton athlete he is a living example of that belief.
Come 2026 Frimpong’s eldest daughter Ashanti will be just shy of her ninth birthday. She got her first taste of an Olympics back at PyeongChang 2018 when, at nine months old, she was there when her father made history.
He hopes that one day that she, like others all around the world following his journey, will be able to tap into the same courage he has found throughout his life to keep going.
It’s why, four years ago, Frimpong chose to wear a Black Panther-themed sliding suit for his Olympic debut. Its design was a nod to the late Chadwick Boseman, who famously portrayed King T’Challa in the critically-acclaimed Black Panther movie, and to the character’s capacity to inspire.
With a new Olympic cycle before him, where his goals are bigger and better than ever, Frimpong hinted that a new look capturing his current state and form was on the way: “It has to do with coming together in unity,” he shares.
A fitting theme for someone whose goal it is to rally over a billion people with his story.
