Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey (pronounced ''Ay-yee-tey'', born 29 August 1988) is an English sprinter. A prodigious junior runner, in 2005 he was named as the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

's Rising Star of the Year after becoming the first athlete to win

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

s at both

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

at the World Youth Championships. An Olympian for Great Britain at the Rio Olympics, Aikines-Aryeetey won his first senior individual medal, a bronze, in the 100 metres at the 2014 European Athletics Championships. At the same championships he earned his first senior title as part of the Great Britain team that won gold in the men's 4 x 100 metres relay. Thereafter, Aikines-Aryeetey won relay gold twice more at European level, and twice at the Commonwealth Games representing England.

Career

Aikines-Aryeetey was born in

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...

, London to Ghanaian parents. He studied at Greenshaw High School in

Sutton, London Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the lower slopes of the North Downs, and is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough. It is south-south west of Charing Cross ...

from 2000 to 2006. His first major tournament medal came at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games where he won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

in the 100 m. On 11 June 2006, aged 17, he competed in the 100 m at

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

in which

Asafa Powell Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consisten ...

equalled the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 9.77 s. On 16 August 2006, he won the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

in the 100 m at the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. ...

, held in Beijing, China, setting a season's best 10.37 s. He was advised not to run in 2007 due to minor fractures in the spine that could affect later development. After an eleven-month recuperation period, he returned to action in 2008 with a

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

personal best of 6.59 s in France to signal a return to form. Aikines-Aryeetey was selected for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. As part of the men's

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

team with

Simeon Williamson Simeon Oscar Williamson (born 16 January 1986) is an English bobsledder and former track and field sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres., beijing2008.cn, ret: 26 August 2008 Williamson, a London native, is the second cousin to 2008 Beijing ...

Tyrone Edgar Tyrone Damien Edgar (born 29 March 1982 in Greenwich) is a sprinter from Great Britain who specializes in the 100 metres.

and

Marlon Devonish Marlon Ronald Devonish, (born 1 June 1976) is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. A prodigious relay runner with particular strength as a 'bend' runner, Devonish ran the third leg for the Great Britain ...

, he took

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

in Berlin with a season's best of 38.02 seconds. In 2009 Harry became a Lucozade Sport Ambassador he is also an ambassador for Mirafit. During the 2010

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, Aikines-Aryeetey had to pull out of his semi-final after qualifying third in his first-round heat due to injury. He then returned in August but was not up to full fitness and then took months to regain it for the 2011 season. In the 2011 indoor season, Aikines-Aryeetey returned to some kind of form, finishing second in the UK indoor championships and European Trials. After having qualified, he again was restrained in his heat by injury running 6.94. However, he ran a 200m personal best of 20.46 in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city ...

in Switzerland in July. He went on to win the UK championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

and qualified for the IAAF World Championships in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

with a time of 10.14. Aikines-Aryeetey won his first senior individual medal in the final of the 2014 European Championships in Zurich where he finished third in a time of 10.22 seconds. In 2018 he was part of the relay team that took gold at both the commonwealth games and also the European championships, his second European gold (after Zurich 2014). In 2020 he became British champion when winning the 100 metres event at the

2020 British Athletics Championships The 2020 British Athletics Championships (known for sponsorship reasons as the Müller British Athletics Championships) was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom. The championship took place on ...

with a time of 10.35 sec. After sustaining an injury while running in the

2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held from 4 to 7 March 2021 at the Arena Toruń in Toruń, Poland. This was the second time this event was held in Poland after the 1975 edition in Katowice. The four-day competition featured ...

Harry was forced to miss the Tokyo Olympics, though 2022 has seen his track return, being selected as a member of the 4x100m squad for the 2022 World Championships, the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England b ...

and the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three ...

Personal bests

References

External links

Harry AA is back with a bang

* * * * *
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey Mirafit Athlete Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aikines-Aryeetey, Harry 1988 births Living people People from Carshalton Athletes from London English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners English people of Ghanaian descent Black British sportsmen Ga-Adangbe people Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games