Canadian Olympic gold medalist Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia and Cynthia Appiah of Toronto, Ontario each won bronze medals on Saturday in Winterberg, Germany. Kripps placed third alongside Ryan Sommer of White Rock, British Columbia, Cam Stones of Oshawa, Ontario, and Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan in the four-man bobsled World Cup. Meanwhile, Appiah won a bronze medal in the Women’s Monobob World Series.
Kripps, Coakwell, Sommer and Stones had a third place time of 1:48.09. German sleds finished first, second, and fourth. The German team piloted by Francesco Friedrich won the gold medal with a time of 1:47.95. Johannes Lochner piloted another German team to a silver medal with a time of 1:48.00, and Christoph Hafer piloted Germany to a fourth place time of 1:48.14. Kripps won the gold medal for Canada in men’s two man bobsled with Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
In the World Cup four-man standings, Kripps is currently in fourth with 952 points. Friedrich leads with 1125 points.
In the Women’s monobob World Series, Appiah had a time of 1:58.24. Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States won gold with a time of 1:57.83. Breeana Walker of Australia won silver with a time of 1:58.06. Appiah reached the podium by 0.23 seconds over Laura Nolte of Germany, who had a time of 1:58.29.
Appiah is in third in the Women’s monobob World Cup standings with 786 points. Meyers Taylor leads with 851 points. The medals for Kripps, Sommer, Stones, Coakwell and Appiah, will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
