Canadian Olympic gold medalist Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia and brakeman Cameron Stones of Oshawa, Ontario won the bronze medal in a World Cup two-man bobsled competition in Winterberg, Germany on Saturday. The bronze medal is significant because it comes one month prior to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Kripps, who won a gold medal with Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario in the two-man bobsled event at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, posted a two-run time with Stones of 1:50.63. Kripps and Stones reached the podium by 0.24 seconds as Rostislav Gaitiukevich and Aleksandr Efimov of Russia finished in fourth place with a time of 1:50.87. Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schueller won the gold medal with a time of 1:49.78. Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer of Germany won the silver medal with a time of 1:50.11.
In the World Cup two-man driver standings, Kripps is in third with 1320 points. Friedrich leads with 1478 points and Gaitiukevich is in second with 1329 points. Friedrich has had a dominant World Cup season, as he has won six of seven races. The only time he did not reach the podium was in Sigulda, Latvia on New Year’s Day, when he finished in 12th place. Kripps has had three bronze medal finishes in two-man this season. He placed third in Innsbruck, Austria on November 27 and third again in Altenberg, Germany on December 18.
