Blessing Akwasi Afrifah (Hebrew: בלסינג אקווסי אפריפה; 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.
Afrifah was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, and later moved with his family to Ramat Gan, Israel.[3] His parents are of Akan ethnicity, from Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to Israel a decade before he was born.[2][1][4][5][6] His father and his mother initially came to Israel separately as tourists in the mid-1990s.[3] They remained -- with his father working in the consular division of Ghana’s embassy, and his mother working as a cleaning lady.[5][3] They named their son Blessing and their daughter Mercy.[3] Mercy is also a sprinter.[3]
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.[7] He speaks fluent Hebrew and English.[3] He is 5 ft 11 in (180 cm), and weighs 165 pounds (75 kg).[3]
At the age of 14, Afrifah began working with national coach Igor Balon.[6] Afrifah's club is Maccabi Tel Aviv.[7]
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.[3]
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.[8][9] Afrifah, who then draped the Israeli flag across his body, was the first Israeli to run the 200 metres race in under 20 seconds.[2][10] 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.[2]
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.[11]
His personal best at the 100m is 10.20 in 2023 and 2024, and at the 200 m is 19.96 in 2022.[3] His highest European ranking in the 200m was 4th.[12]
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."[2]
Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 200 metres at the Stade de France.[13][14] 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.[15] 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.[16][17]
In 2010, Afrifah was granted permanent residence status, along with his sister and parents, following a government decision to not deport children of foreign workers born in Israel.[6] At the age of 16, he was granted Israeli citizenship after he appealed to Israel's Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri.[18][6]
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."[19]
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.[19][3]
Figures from World Athletics profile.[3]
| Surface | Distance | Time (s) | W (m/s) | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor | 60 metres | 6.88 | +0.7 | 21 January 2021 | Tel Aviv, Israel | |
| 100 metres | 10.09 | +1.8 | 30 July 2025 | Tel Aviv, Israel | =NR | |
| 150 metres | 15.57 | +0.6 | 27 April 2023 | Tel Aviv, Israel | ||
| 200 metres | 19.96 | −1.0 | 4 August 2022 | Cali, Colombia | AU20R NR NU20R | |
| 300 metres | 33.26 | 5 February 2022 | Tel Aviv, Israel | |||
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 39.66 | — | 21 June 2023 | Chorzów, Poland | ||
| Indoor | 60 metres | 6.92 | — | 12 February 2022 | Belgrade, Serbia | |
| 200 metres | 20.95 | — | 11 February 2023 | Metz, France | NR |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Wind (m/s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Balkan Championships | Smederevo, Serbia | 5th (F) | 200 m | 21.28 | +0.7 | |
| 3rd | 4 x 100 m relay | 40.12 | — | SB | |||
| 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 | 6.92i | — | PB |
| 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 [.954] | −1.0 | AU20R CR NR NU20R PB | |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 7th (F) | 200 m | 20.69 | −0.3 | ||
| 2023 | European Team Championships | Chorzów, Poland | DQ | 100 m | — | — | — |
| 2nd | 4 x 100 m relay | 39.66 | — | PB | |||
| 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 |
| Year | Time | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10.85[20] | Tel Aviv, Israel | ||
| 2020 | 10.49 | Tel Aviv, Israel | 27 July | |
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | ||||
| 2023 | ||||
| 2024 |
| Year | Time | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 21.67 | Tel Aviv, Israel | 25 July | |
| 2020 | 21.17 | Tel Aviv, Israel | 28 July | |
| 2021 | 20.94 | Tallinn, Estonia | 16 July | |
| 2022 | 19.96 | Cali, Colombia | 4 August | AU20R CR NR NU20R |
| 2023 | 20.42 | La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland | 2 July | |
| 2024 | 20.46 | Rome, Italy | 9 June |
World U20 Champions in men's 200 metres | |
|---|---|
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European Athletics U23 Championships champions in men's 200 metres | |
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