Kimani Griffin

Hobbies	Designing clothing. (Instagram profile, 18 Jan 2021; eyeam.i Instagram profile, 13 Dec 2020)
Other sports	He has competed in roller speed skating, and was a 2007 and 2008 national champion in the sport. (teamusa.org, 09 Nov 2016)

Reason for choosing this sport	He made the transition to speed skating from inline skating in the hope of winning a medal at the Olympic Winter Games.
Name of coach	Gabriel Girard [national], CAN
When and where did you begin this sport?	He began inline skating at age seven in North Carolina, United States of America. He took up speed skating in 2010 in Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America.

Sporting philosophy / motto	"I guess for the 500m, you have that 34, 35 seconds of [when] just time essentially stops. You're just in the moment, you can't hear anything, I mean even your coach is screaming at you on the backstretch but you can't even hear him most of the time, at least for me. And I'm just so focused in every little push, every little body angle, every movement that I'm doing to propel myself forward. And then when I cross the line, all of the sudden I hear people screaming and I look at the clock and, hopefully it's a time that I want to see." (teamusa.org, 25 Jan 2018)
Other information	MUSIC MAN He is a classically trained guitarist and has performed on 'From the Top at Carnegie Hall', a US television series aimed at showcasing young classical musicians. He has also won a number of national guitar competitions. His grandmother was a classical pianist and his mother is a former music professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After his speed skating career he says that he may consider returning to music, having left his studies at Columbus State University to move to Salt Lake City, UT, to pursue speed skating. "I really enjoyed my time [at Columbus State University], but I really missed skating. I really missed the world of working out and that competitive nature. I still think about going back to school for music later, because guitar is something I could do up until the day I die." (teamusa.org, 09 Nov 2016; thecontenders.com, 2016; ledger-enquirer.com, 22 Jan 2018; wvxu.org, 21 Jan 2018; nsjonline.com, 31 Jan 2018) FROM INLINE TO ICE In mid-2008 he visited Salt Lake City, UT, where the US speed skating programme is based, and tried speed skating for the first time. "They had an inline-to-ice transitional programme out there, funded by the US Olympic Committee, and I did that for about two years. They [inline and ice] are both skating in a sense, but as far as the technical aspect, the way you create speed and go fast is quite different on ice. On wheels if you want to go fast, you just kind of push harder and go faster. Basically, you try harder. On ice, there's just one way to accelerate and that's by creating a downward force into the ice and staying with that pressure for as long as you can through the entire push into the next step." (nsjonline.com, 31 Jan 2018)
Memorable sporting achievement	Competing at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2019)
Most influential person in career	His mother Pam Griffin, and coach Derrick Speas. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2019)

www.facebook.com/kimani.griffin

Hero / Idol	US speed skater Shani Davis. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2019; nytimes.com, 13 Feb 2018)
Ambitions	To win a medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. (eu.jsonline.com, 30 Jan 2020)