Canadians had a terrific Saturday in a Women’s Monobob World Series event in Altenberg, Germany on Saturday. Christine De Bruin of Edmonton, Alberta won the gold medal with a time of 1:59.96, and Cynthia Appiah of North York, Ontario won the silver medal with a time of 2:00.09.
It was actually a North American sweep in the women’s monobob, as Kaillie Humphries of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 2:00.15. De Bruin and Appiah comfortably reached the podium as De Bruin beat Laura Nolte of Germany by 0.43 seconds and Appiah beat Nolte by 0.30 seconds. Nolte had a fourth place time of 2:00.39.
In the World Cup women’s monobob standings for 2021-22, Appiah now leads with 996 points. De Bruin is in fifth with 929 points.
In the World Cup men’s bobsled, Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia won two medals. He won bronze in the two-man event with Cam Stones of Whitby, Ontario on Saturday, and then won silver in the four-man event with Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan, Ryan Sommer of White Rock, British Columbia, and Stones on Sunday.
In the World Cup two-man on Saturday, Kripps and Stones had a time of 1:50.68. They reached the podium by two one-hundredths of a second over fellow Canadians Chris Spring of Calgary, Alberta, and Mike Evelyn of Ottawa, Ontario, who had a fourth place time of 1:50.70. Germans Francesco Friedrich and Margis Thorsten won the gold medal with a time of 1:50.37. Christoph Hafer and Issam Ammour of Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 1:50.59.
Kripps is in third place in the World Cup two-man standings with 768 points. Friedrich leads with 900 points and Lochner is in second place with 774 points.
In the World Cup four-man on Sunday, Kripps, Stones, Coakwell and Sommer posted a time of 1:49.16. Germany’s bobsled team driven by Friedrich won the gold medal with a time of 1:48.88. Russia’s bobsled team driven by Rostislav Gaitiukevich won the bronze medal with a time of 1:49.23. Canada meanwhile reached the podium by 0.11 seconds as the Austrian team driven by Benjamin Maier finished in fourth place with a time of 1:49.27.
The four-man World Cup standings has Kripps in second with 1162 points. Friedrich leads with 1350 points. The medals on the weekend for Kripps, Stones, Coakwell, Sommer, De Bruin and Appiah will give them confidence aa they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
