Alasan Ann was in St. Paul last year when he and his friends heard gunshots. They immediately took off running.

“Then I felt it,” said Ann, 23. “It was like a hot knife cutting through my leg.”

A stray bullet had pierced his right thigh.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Ann said. “You don’t want to think it happened and then it was, like, ‘Nope. It definitely happened.’ I just kept running. I was not going to stop.”

They got to the car and he realized his pants were covered in blood. He tried to stop the bleeding by plugging the bullet hole while his friends drove him to the hospital. Luckily for Ann, the stray bullet hit a muscle, not an artery, limiting any catastrophic damage.

“I had to get surgery and then I was in bed for a few weeks,” Ann said. “I healed up pretty quickly and got back to training.”

A few months after getting shot, Ann traveled to Dakar, Senegal, for the African Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament. Now he’s preparing to represent Gambia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with his first match coming up shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday.

“It made me was thinking about everything I’ve gone through and all the blessings that I’ve had,” said Ann, who grew up in Maple Grove. “I’m definitely able to appreciate this moment and not take anything for granted. Just blessed to be able to continue to do what I do. I’ve been working toward this pretty much more whole life.”

Literally. His mother enrolled him at World Taekwondo Academy in Maple Grove when he was about 6 years old as a way to try to get him to focus.

“I had some anger issues a kid, which, looking back on it now, was really just a lack of confidence more than anything else,” Ann said. “I couldn’t really beat up my taekwondo instructor, though, so I had to learn my lesson the hard way a few times over there.”

As he progressed through his training in the sport, Ann found himself gravitating to the competition aspect.

“I was like, ‘Oh they can fight and they don’t get in trouble,’ ” Ann said. “I worked harder so I could reach that level.”

He made nationals when he was about 12 years old and he slowly started to establish himself as a rising star.

“I think after I won back-to-back-to-back national titles I was like, ‘Oh yeah. This isn’t a fluke. I’m going somewhere,’ ” Ann said. “I kept going with it and at that point I knew I was going to try to reach the highest stage I could.”

That’s exactly what he’s done. Not even a stray bullet could get in his way.

“No I was always coming back,” Ann said. “Maybe it’s because I’m a little crazy.”

What’s the biggest thing the sport has taught him?

“I’ve learned I’m a pretty tough kid,” Ann said. “Just fighting through it has always been my thing. I think that’s why I’ve been done so well. I’m going to figure out a way to win.”

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