Joseph Amoah (sprinter)

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Joseph Amoah
Amoah in 2018
Personal information
Full nameJoseph Paul Amoah
Born (1997-01-12) 12 January 1997 (age 27)
Greater Accra, Ghana[1]
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Weight68 kg (150 lb)[2]
Sport
CountryGhana
SportAthletics
Event(s)100 m, 200 m
College teamCoppin State Eagles (2017–2021)[3]
Coached byJamie Wilson[4]
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • 100 m: 9.94 (2022)
  • 200 m: 20.08 (2019, NR)
Medal record
Representing  Ghana
Men's athletics
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Birmingham 200m
African Games
Gold medal – first place 2019 Rabat 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2023 Accra 200 m
Silver medal – second place 2023 Accra 4×100 m relay

Joseph Paul Amoah (born 12 January 1997) is a Ghanaian sprinter specializing in the 100 metres and the 200 metres. He competed at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in the 100 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay, and at the 2019 African Games, he won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay.[5][6][7] He was also a 100 metres finalist at the 2019 African Games, finishing fourth.[7]

Amoah has personal best times of 9.94 seconds and 20.08 seconds in the 100 metres and 200 metres respectively. His personal best performance in the 200 metres broke the Ghanaian record previously held by three-time Olympian Emmanuel Tuffour by 0.07 seconds. He is currently the Africa Games champion for the 200 meters race. He won this with a time of 20.70.[4][8]

Early life

Amoah was born on 12th January, 1997 to Thomas Amoah and Alberta Antwi in Greater Accra, Ghana. Joseph Amoah was raised by his uncle Dr. Victor Antwi from middle school onwards.[4] His preferred sport growing up was football, but transitioned to athletics while attending Prempeh College in Kumasi where his running talent was discovered.[1] As a 19 years old boy, he emerged as an Olympic hopeful for Ghana in the sprints after running 100 metres in 10.08 seconds at the 2016 Ghana's Fastest Human competition.[9]

University

After his prep career at Prempeh College, he decided to quit athletics to enrolling in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).[4] However the head coach of athletics at KNUST had heard of Amoah's talent while at Prempeh college and convinced Amoah to join the team with the help of his uncle.[4][1] In 2017, he was transferred to Coppin State University in Baltimore, of which he competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the highest level of intercollegiate athletics in the United States.[1][4]

At the year 2019, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships in May, Joseph Amoah became the first Ghanaian in any sport to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics by running 200 metres in a personal best time in 20.20 seconds. It was the fastest performance from a Ghanaian since 1995 and also qualified him for the 2019 World Athletics Championships.[10] Later in June of that season at the NCAA Division I Championships, he improved his personal best times in the 100 metres and 200 metres to 10.01 seconds and 20.08 seconds respectively.[4] He broke three-time Olympian Emmanuel Tuffour's 24 years old Ghanaian record in the 200 metres (20.15 seconds, set at altitude) and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 100 metres.[8]

2021 World Relays

Amoah was selected to represent Ghana at the 2021 World Relays on 1st - 2nd May in Poland, which served as a qualifier for the 2021 Olympic Games and the 2022 World Championships for Ghana.[11] In the finals, Joseph Amoah anchored Ghana to bronze with a time of 39.11 seconds, but the team was disqualified after footage review showed Amoah receiving the baton beyond the passing zone from teammate Joseph Oduro Manu.[12] However, because they qualified for the final with a time of 38.79 seconds in the semi-finals, Ghana with Amoah still qualified to compete at the Olympic Games.[13]

Career

Joseph Paul ran under 10 seconds for the first time on April 23rd, 2022 with a time of 9.94 seconds, making him the 4th Ghanaian to run the event under 10 seconds. [10]The time also marked the first time in Ghana's history where two of their athletes made the top 2 in the world for the 100m. [11]

Achievements

International championships

Representing  Ghana
Year Competition Position Event Time Wind (m/s) Venue Notes
2018 Commonwealth Games 15th 200 m 20.99 0.0 Gold Coast, Australia [14]
2019 African Games 4th 100 m 10.11 +1.6 Rabat, Morocco [7]
1st 4×100 m relay 38.30 [7]
21st 200 m 21.20 +0.3 [7]
World Championships 34th 100 m 10.36 −0.8 Doha, Qatar [5]
13th 4×100 m relay 38.24 [6]
2021 World Relays 3rd DQ 4×100 m relay 39.11 Chorzów, Poland Passing outside zone[12]
2022 Commonwealth Games 3rd 200 m 20.49 Birmingham, United Kingdom [15][16]
2023 World Championships 27th (h) 200 m 20.56 Budapest, Hungary
2024 African Games 1st 200 m 20.70 −2.8 Accra, Ghana
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 38.43

National championships

Representing the Coppin State Eagles
Year Competition Position Event Time Wind (m/s) Venue Notes
2018 NCAA Division I Championships 13th 200 m 20.60 +1.1 Eugene, United States
2019 NCAA Division I Championships 8th 100 m 10.22 +0.8 Austin, United States
6th 200 m 20.19 +0.8
14th 4×100 m relay 39.30
2021 NCAA Division I Championships 15th 4×100 m relay 39.51 Eugene, United States
9th 100 m 10.21 +0.9
10th 200 m 20.51 +1.4
  • NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System profile.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Watta, Evelyn (2019-08-29). "Joseph Amoah: The Ghanaian sprint hope with big dreams". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  2. ^ a b "JOSEPH AMOAH". Coppin State Eagles. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  3. ^ a b "JOSEPH AMOAH COPPIN STATE". TFRRS. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lee, Edward (2019-07-05). "Coppin State's Joseph Amoah emerges as world-class sprinter, eyes representing Ghana at 2020 Olympics". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  5. ^ a b "100 Metres Men - Round 1" (PDF). IAAF. 2019-10-06. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  6. ^ a b "4 x 100 Metres Relay Men - Round 1" (PDF). IAAF. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Results" (PDF). Atos. 2019-08-29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-09-01.
  8. ^ a b Tahiru, Fentuo (2019-06-06). "Ghana Athletics: Joseph Amoah breaks 24-year old National Record in 200m". Citi Sports Online. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  9. ^ Malonga, Edwy (2016-10-05). "Joseph Paul Amoah, bientôt dans la cour des grands ?". LCI. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  10. ^ a b "Joseph Amoah becomes first Ghanaian to qualify for 2020 Olympic Games". Joy Online. 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  11. ^ a b "Ghana’s team for World Athletics Relay". Ghanaian Times (2021-04-29). Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  12. ^ a b "World Relays: Ghana disqualified in final despite finishing 3rd". Citi Sports via ModernGhana (2021-05-02). Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  13. ^ Tahiru, Fentuo (2019-05-01). "World Relays: Ghana men’s 4x100m Relay team qualify for Tokyo Olympics [VIDEO]". Citi Sports. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  14. ^ "Athletics Official Results" (PDF). Commonwealth Games. 2018-04-11. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  15. ^ "Ghana's Joseph Paul Amoah wins bronze in the 200m at the 2022 Commonwealth Games". GhanaWeb. 6 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  16. ^ Emmanuel, Kojo (7 August 2022). "2022 Commonwealth Games: Joseph Paul Amoah wins bronze for Ghana in men's 200m". Pulse Ghana. Accra. Retrieved 7 August 2022.

External links