red bull

2020

Born in Accra, Ghana, Maame Biney moved to the United States when she was five after her father Kweku emigrated to Washington DC. Soon after she was introduced to the world of speed skating by sheer chance when Kweku took her to a local ice rink in the Northern Virginia suburbs. She immediately fell in love with skating and when her instructors told her that she was too fast for figure skating, Maame found her home on the track.

Known for her beaming smile, Maame burst onto the scene aged just 17 when she became the first African-American woman to qualify for the US Olympic short track speed skating team, winning the 500m team trial race in December 2017. She competed in her first Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea in 2018, making it to the quarter-finals of the 500m race, but was ousted in the qualifying heat of the 1500m event. Upon her return from the Olympics, Biney impressed at the 2018 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships, winning gold in the 500m, bronze in the 1000m and claiming bronze in the overall standings.

Still in the early stages of her career and constantly improving, there is no doubt that Maame will be a force in the world of speed skating for many years to come.