Ghana athlete becomes the first African to earn a 4th place podium finish at a World Championships winter sports competition.
Akwasi Frimpong, Ghana’s first skeleton Olympian, took 4th place on December 9, 2022, at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) inaugural skeleton World Push Championships in Lake Placid, New York.
Frimpong ended ahead of some of the biggest winter sports nations in the world, including athletes from the USA, Austria, Ukraine, Great Britain, and China, and beat out the Olympic bronze medalist from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.
In addition, last week Frimpong earned Ghana’s first-ever bronze medal in an international winter sports event during the IBSF North American Cup skeleton races in Lake Placid.
According to Frimpong, he used to come in last place in almost every IBSF skeleton event, but that only fueled him to work harder. Since not being able to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics due to COVID and changes to IOC and IBSF regulations, he’s put in the effort to become an even better slider, and his hard work is slowly showing.
“I remain laser-focused, and I am taking it one training and competition at a time with the aim to represent Ghana for the second time at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics,” he said Friday.
He said he contributes his current results to the help of current and past coaches, sponsors, and the many people who have helped him get this far.
