Canadian Olympic gold medalist Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia won two bronze medals this past weekend in the final two World Cup two-man bobsled competitions of the season from Sigulda, Latvia. What made Kripps’s accomplishment the most impressive is that he won the bronze medals with two different brakemen.
On Saturday, Kripps and Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan placed third with a time of 1:39.53. Oskars Kibermanis and Matiss Miknis of Latvia won the gold medal with a time of 1:39.20. Francesco Friedrich and Martin Grothkopp of Germany won the silver medal with a time of 1:39.27. Kripps and Coakwell reached the podium by three one hundredths of a second over Rostislav Gaitiukevich and Roman Koshelev of Russia, who had a time of 1:39.56.
In the Saturday race, Kripps and Coakwell got fortunate because South Korea and Switzerland crashed near the finish line in their second runs. They were both leading Canada after the first run.
In the Sunday World Cup race, Kripps and Samuel Giguere of Sherbrooke, Quebec posted a time of 1:39.59. Oskars Kibermanis and Matiss Miknis of Latvia won the gold medal with a time of 1:39.18 and Simon Friedli and Gregory Jones of Switzerland won the silver medal with a time of 1:39.54. Kripps and Giguere reached the podium by 0.11 seconds. Christoph Hafer and Christian Hammers of Germany finished in fourth place with a time 1:39.70.
Kripps finished in third place in the World Cup standings with 1466 points. Friedrich is the Crystal Globe champion with 1530 points and Kibermanis was in second with 1478 points.
Kripps won his Olympic gold medal in the two-man bobsled with Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. He will be a medal contender again at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
