Sprinter from Ghana, who has already raced at the Olympics and World Championships, continues to elevate among elite athletes in collegiate history with 9.90 and 20.13 credentials

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku wants to see how far he can go in track and field. And just how quickly he can get there.

Since leaving his home of Akim Oda, Ghana, in 2019 to attend West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, it’s been a fast few years, as Azamati-Kwaku has developed into not only the program’s most accomplished sprinter, but one of the best collegiate competitors and Ghanaian athletes.

A 2020 Tokyo Olympian, he currently owns the second-fastest 100-meter time of 9.90 seconds across all college divisions and under all-conditions – trailing only a wind-aided 9.83 performance by Oregon’s Micah Williams – and leads NCAA Division 2 with the outdoor record in the 200 of 20.13 achieved April 9 on his home track at the Jo Meaker Classic and Multi.

“He’s always wanting to get better and that’s something you don’t see a whole lot,” West Texas A&M head coach Matt Stewart said. “He just wants to be great, and I think he wants to really excel in the sport and in everything he does.”

Editor's Note: Azamati-Kwaku was originally on the start list for this week's Oregon Relays, but has scratched.

For Azamati-Kwaku, it was always soccer. Growing up, the country's most popular sport served as the primary activity for him as he excelled playing left wing.

It wasn’t until late in his high school years at Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (a secondary boarding school for boys in Legon, Accra) that he was encouraged to give running a go.

Both of his parents, John and Faustina Azamati, were runners, so the sport was a natural fit. Azamati-Kwaku connected in a unique way with running and established himself as a young talent, receiving a scholarship to attend the University of Ghana.

“Track and field is more individual and whatever you do is just about yourself,” he said, comparing it to soccer. “I wanted to see where I could go with it and with my career.”

He continued to make fast strides in the sport at the University of Ghana.

In 2018, Azamati-Kwaku represented the school at the West African Universities Games in Nigeria, where he qualified for the 100 final. In 2019, he was part of the winning 4x100 relay team at the African Championships in Rabat, Morocco, and then ran at the 2019 IAAF Championship in Doha.

In September of 2019, he ran 10.02 to win the GNPC Ghana Fastest Human Competition.

With a diverse roster, including national champion jumper Abraham Seaneke – a senior from Kokrobite, Ghana for West Texas A&M in 2019 – Stewart said they watched some film on Azamati-Kwaku and made a connection with him about the opportunity to come to Canyon, Texas.

As Stewart puts it, they got pretty lucky.

“I think his technical development was really good already, he was taught pretty well technically, so I didn’t have to change too much there,” said Stewart, who was a 2003 NCAA Division 1 All-American sprinter for Texas Tech.

Arriving in 2019, Azamati-Kwaku won the Lone Star Conference 60-meter title and finished ranked No. 5 in Division 2 at 6.69, before the pandemic shut down the remainder of the track season.

The unexpected pause from competition allowed Azamati-Kwaku to settle into a new environment and surroundings and dial in on his overall training, setting himself up to hit the ground running when the NCAA competition returned for the 2021 indoor season.

“I mean, to leave home and come here, it's going to be sad, you don't have your family here,” Azamati-Kwaku said. “But I had to leave to achieve my own career and see how far I can go.”

The 2021 season saw Azamati-Kwaku win the Division 2 Indoor National Championship in the 60 (6.60) and finish third in the 200 (21.00).

In his first outdoor season for the Buffaloes, he burst onto the global scene, clocking 9.97 at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in late March to break Ghana’s 22-year-old 100-meter national record of 9.98 held by Leonard Myles-Mills.

His time qualified him for the Tokyo Olympics, as he also became the first Division 2 athlete to run under 10 seconds, breaking the previous division record of 10.08 achieved by Darrell Green at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1983.

While his times were eye-popping to many outside the program, Azamati-Kwaku said his rather rapid progression at West Texas A&M didn’t come as a shock.

“I knew when I came here and had the facilities, I would be able to run really, really fast,” he said. “And I know I have not run my best yet, my best times are a ways to come, so having to get faster is something I’m looking forward to.”

This past summer in Tokyo representing Ghana in the 100 meters and 4x100, he helped his country advance to the finals in the relay, clocking 38.08 to eclipse the national record. While he failed to advance in the 100, both Azamati-Kwaku and Stewart said that world-class experience is something he can grow from and continue to use during the collegiate outdoor season and at the World Championships in July.

“In the Olympics, everyone runs fast,” Azamati-Kwaku said. “I also felt like whatever they were doing wasn’t something I couldn’t do. The difference was they really knew what they were doing, I was just like in the beginning, it was new to me, and I felt like I had to be a student of the sport, learn how the sport actually works and get my mind right. When you line up with them, sometimes you are faster than most of them, but they are going to beat you with the mindset that they have.”

With growing experience and maturity, Azamati-Kwaku’s sprinting trajectory has only gone up.

The 2022 indoor season saw him clock the Division 2 all-time record of 6.54 in the 60 and claim the NCAA title. He’s continued that record-breaking mentality this spring, as he opened up the outdoor season running 9.90 in the 100, a personal-best performance and equal to the No. 4 collegiate competitor in history, regardless of division.

Azamati-Kwaku followed that up April 9, matching his own 200 Division 2 record of 20.13, and was part of the 4x100 that ran the No. 6 time in division history at 39.43, breaking both school and facility records as well. 

“He’s gotten more powerful and stronger where he’s able to push harder and put more force into the ground and that’s really helped him,” Stewart said of Azamati-Kwaku’s development. “He’s always had elite top-end speed.”

Aside from the accolades on the track, his ascent to a top name in the track and field world means more than quick times. Azamati-Kwaku said it’s important for him to be an ambassador of the sport for his country.

“It feels good, it feels like you have something to live for because everytime you wake up, hey you have to go to practice, you are pushing hard because you have people back home looking up to you,” he said. “I just want to be an inspiration for the young ones, if I can do it they can also do it.”

Part of his advocacy is helping grow the sport of track and field in Ghana, looking to give kids an opportunity from a young age to excel in the sport.

Alongside coach Elorm Amenakpor of the University of Ghana, through the Legon Creative Athletics Club, they organized the Ghana Junior Olympics Open Championship last year.

According to the site, “Ghana Junior Olympics Open Championship aims to give young athletes (Age group) a platform to demonstrate their talent and measure accomplishments at a competitive level, promote discipline through sport and ignite a love for athletics throughout Ghana.”

Stewart said while Azamati-Kwaku is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, he’s a quiet individual who isn’t boisterous of his talents, but possesses a competitive and caring edge, wanting to do his best on and off the track.

“He’s a very nice person, very giving person, always wanting to help others and he’s helped put our university on the map,” Stewart said. “He wants to give back to his country, he wants to continue to help all the younger athletes there, they all look to him and it's very important for him to be a good role model for them, and hopefully give back to them one day so they can hopefully have a better situation back home training wise just learning the sport and learning the different events. He’ll do anything he can do to help his country.”

And knowing Azamati-Kwaku, who has big plans for his future, he’ll achieve his goals sooner rather than later.

“I don’t want to go to the big championships and just be a competitor,” he said. “I want to do something or get something for my country.”