Blessing Akwasi Afrifah (; born 26 October 2003) is an Israeli track and field athlete who specializes in the sprints. He was the 200 metres champion at the 2022 World U20 Championships as well as at the 2023 and 2025 European U23 Championships. Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's 200 metres, and finished 34th.

Early life Afrifah was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, and later moved with his family to Ramat Gan, Israel. His parents are of Akan ethnicity, from Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to Israel a decade before he was born.Hillel Kuttler (5 December 2022). "Blessing Afrifa; Israel’s Usain Bolt takes aim at the 2024 Olympics in Paris," Tablet. His father and his mother initially came to Israel separately as tourists in the mid-1990s. They remained—with his father working in the consular division of Ghana’s embassy, and his mother working as a cleaning lady. They named their son Blessing and their daughter Mercy. Mercy is also a sprinter.

As a child and teenager, Afrifah studied at Ohel Shem high school in Ramat Gan, Israel. He briefly played soccer, then turned to athletics at the age of 11. He speaks fluent Hebrew and English. He is 5 ft 11 in (180 cm), and weighs 165 pounds (75 kg).

Running career Early years; Israeli championships At the age of 14, Afrifah began working with national coach Igor Balon. Afrifah's club is Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Afrifah won the Israeli Championship in the 100m in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, with his best time being a 10.23 in 2023. He won the Israeli Championship in the 200m in 2020-24, with his best time being a 20.63 in 2023 in Jerusalem.

2022; World U20 Champion At the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, at 18 years of age Afrifah won the 200 m in a photo finish with a championship record time of 19.954, 0.006 seconds ahead of Botswanan Letsile Tebogo. Afrifah, who then draped the Israeli flag across his body, was the first Israeli to run the 200 metres race in under 20 seconds. In recorded competitions, only two humans under age 20 had run a faster 200 meters, one being Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who later won the event three times in the Olympics and four times in the world championships.

2023-present; European U23 Champion Next year, at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland, Afrifah won the 200 m with a time of 20.67, just 0.01 second ahead of Dutch Raphael Bouju.

His personal best at the 100m is 10.20 in 2023 and 2024, and at the 200 m is 19.96 in 2022. His highest European ranking in the 200m was 4th."Blessing Akwasi AFRIFAH," European Athletics.

Afrifah said: "I feel I'm standing for a community. Israel is a country that [some] countries hate, so it's an honor to represent them. I want to prove [anti-Israel slander] is not true and Israel is different, and I'm proving it through sports."

2024 Paris Olympics Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 200 metres at the Stade de France. He attended a ceremony at the Paris Olympics that was held to remember the 11 Israeli Olympicans killed in the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games."Israeli athletes receive threats in Paris as tensions simmer over Gaza," AP. At 20 years of age, he ran a 20.78 and came in 5th in his first round qualification heat, and he ran a 20.88 in the last chance repechage round, finishing 16th and not making it to the semifinals.Joshua Halickman (August 7, 2024). "Afrifah comes up just short of 200m semis," The Jerusalem Post."Blessing Afrifah finished ..", X, Team Israel.

Personal life Although he was born and raised in Israel, Afrifah was not granted permanent residence status until 2020, following a government decision to not deport children of foreign workers born in Israel. At the age of 16, he was granted Israeli citizenship after he appealed to Israel's Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri.

When asked about his feelings upon receiving his Israeli identity document, Afrifah replied: "I'm an Israeli. I was born here, my friends are here.... I'm no different from my friends, which are residents of Israel. I want to represent Israel and win medals." He was given full citizenship in 2020, and said: "I can't describe how excited I am; I couldn't even eat due to my excitement. I have more confidence and motivation to win achievements for Israel."

As an Israeli citizen and thus conscripted by law upon reaching 18 years of age, Afrifah served in the Israel Defense Forces beginning in 2022. He served on an army base in Rehovot, in a program limited to elite sportspeople that provides a more flexible service.

Career statistics Figures from World Athletics profile.

Personal bests Surface Distance Time (s) W (m/s) Date Location NotesOutdoor60 metres6.88+0.721 January 2021Tel Aviv, Israel100 metres10.09 +1.830 July 2025Jerusalem, Israel150 metres15.57+0.627 April 2023Tel Aviv, Israel200 metres19.96−1.04 August 2022Cali, Colombia 300 metres33.265 February 2022Tel Aviv, Israel39.6621 June 2023Chorzów, PolandIndoor60 metres6.9212 February 2022Belgrade, Serbia200 metres20.9511 February 2023Metz, FranceNR

International championships 2021 Balkan Championships Smederevo, Serbia 5th (F) 200 m 21.28 +0.7 3rd 4 x 100 m relay 40.12 European U20 Championships Tallinn, Estonia 4th (F) 200 m 21.01 +0.7 7th (F) 4 x 100 m relay 41.18 World U20 Championships Nairobi, Kenya 7th (F) 200 m 21.03 +0.5 2022 Balkan U20 Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 7th (F) 60 m 6.92 Balkan Championships Craiova, Romania 1st 200 m 20.98 −1.9 5th (F) 4 x 100 m relay 40.11 World U20 Championships Cali, Colombia 1st 200 m 19.96 −1.0 European Championships Munich, Germany 7th (F) 200 m 20.69 −0.3 2023 European Team Championships Chorzów, Poland 100 m 2nd 4 x 100 m relay 39.66 European U23 Championships Espoo, Finland 1st 200 m 20.67 −1.1 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 33rd (h) 200 m 20.73 −1.4 2024 European Championships Rome, Italy 7th 200 m 20.97 +0.8 Olympic Games Paris, France 16th (rep) 200 m 20.88 0.0 2025 European U23 Championships Bergen, Norway 1st 200 m 20.64 −0.7 2025 World Athletics Championships Tokyo, Japan 28th (h) 200 m 20.47 −0.1

100m progression YearTimeLocationDateNotes201910.85Afrifah ran a 10.79 seconds in a 100 metre dash in Rishon LeZion in 2019, but the result was disqualified and not counted.Tel Aviv, Israel202010.49Tel Aviv, Israel27 July2021202220232024

200m progression YearTimeLocationDateNotes201921.67Tel Aviv, Israel25 July202021.17Tel Aviv, Israel28 July202120.94Tallinn, Estonia16 July202219.96Cali, Colombia4 August 202320.42La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland2 July202420.46Rome, Italy9 June

See also List of Israeli records in athletics List of European under-20 records in athletics Sports in Israel

References

External links