Canadian Olympic gold medalist Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia and brakeman Cameron Stones of Oshawa, Ontario won a World Cup men’s silver medal in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Saturday. It was one of two medals won by Canadian bobsledders on Saturday as Cynthia Appiah of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in women’s monobob. The medals are significant because it was the final World Cup bobsled event of the 2021-22 season and has come three weeks before the start of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Kripps and Stones posted a time of 2:11.95. They reached the podium by 0.26 seconds over the Russian duo of Rostislav Gaitiukevich and Mikhail Mordasov of Russia, who had a fourth place time of 2:12.21. Francesco Friedrich and Margis Thorsten of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 2:11.76. Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer of Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 2:12.12.
In the World Cup two-man standings, Friedrich finished with 1703 points, with Kripps in second with 1530 points. Kripps will be going for his second straight Olympic medal in Beijing as he won gold in the two-man at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang alongside Alex Kopacz of London, Ontario.
In women’s monobob, Appiah had a time of 2:23.22. She reached the podium by two one-hundredth of a second over Mariama Jamanka of Germany, who had a time of 2:23.24. Kaillie Humphries of the United States won gold with a time of 2:22.27 and Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 2:22.31.
Appiah finished the World Cup standings with 1012 points and in third place. Meyers Taylor had the most points with 1110, followed by Humphries at 1052 points. At the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, women’s monobob will take place on February 12 and 13 at 7:30 pm MT, while two-man will be at 6am on February 14 and 15.
