Nkrumah-Acheampong fails to qualify

Ghana's alpine skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, skiing in a fake leopard skin suit in temperatures below minus 10 Celsius, failed to qualify, finishing last, over a minute off the pace, at the world Alpine skiing championships on Monday.

The Glasgow-born Snow Leopard, as he is known on the international skiing circuit, is the only competitor representing his country in the world championships in Are, Sweden.

But the 31-year-old, who is now based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, failed to make it to the main event after finishing 77th in the giant slalom qualifying round.

Dad-of-one Kwame is now setting his sights on competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

In 1988, the last time the games were held in Canada, the Jamaican bobsleigh team captured the imagination of fans in Calgary and were immortalised in the film Cool Runnings.

Now, Kwame is aiming to become the Leopard King of Vancouver.