Ghana’s lone-ranger at the 2018 Winter Olympics Akwasi Frimpong is currently out of medal contention in last place at the halfway stage of the men’s skeleton competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Frimpong finished his first heat with a time of 53.97 seconds and the second run in a time of 54.46 seconds finishing 30th out of 30 athletes on both occasions on Thursday.
The 32-year-old will be hoping for a better outing on Friday when the competition concludes with two further runs.
South Korea’s Yun Sung-Bin leads by 0.74 seconds with a total time of 1 minute 40.35 seconds after two runs.
However, Frimpong has caught the eye for his colourful helmet which has won won rave reviews as the best in the skeleton competition.
His helmet has an illustration of a rabbit inside the mouth of a lion.
“My former sprint coach Sammy Monsels talks about the analogy of a rabbit in a cage, ready to escape from a lion,” Frimpong said in an email Monday. “I am that rabbit, and I have escaped the lions [of my past]. I am no longer being eaten by all the things around my life.”
The former track athlete, who was raised in Ghana but moved to the Netherlands at the age of 8 has also caught up with Ghana born US speed skate Maame Biney during the games.
Frimpong made history by becoming Ghana’s first skeleton athlete to qualify for a Winter Olympic event while Maame on the other hand, is the first African-American woman to qualify for the United States Olympic speed skating team and the second speed skater to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Maame, 18, was also born in Ghana but migrated to the United States at a young age.
Source: Graphic