Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia piloted Team Canada to two World Cup medals in men’s bobsled this past weekend in Konigssee, Germany. Kripps, alongside Cameron Stones of Oshawa, Ontario, won the silver medal in the men’s two-man on Saturday and then teamed up with Stones, Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan and Ryan Sommer of Calgary, Alberta to win the bronze medal in the men’s four-man on Sunday.
In the men’s two man on Saturday, Kripps and Stones had a second place time of 1:39.17. Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 1:38.66. Nico Walther and Malte Schwenzfeier of Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 1:39.19. Kripps and Stones reached the podium by nine one hundredths of a second over Richard Oelsner and Tobias Schneider of Germany, who had a fourth place time of 1:39.26.
In the men’s four man, Canada had a third place time of 1:37.29. They finished 0.16 seconds faster than the Latvian sled piloted by Oskars Kibermanis, who had a fourth place time of 1:37.45. Germany’s sled piloted by Friedrich won the gold medal with a time of 1:37.03 and Germany’s sled piloted by Johannes Lochner won the silver medal with a time of 1:37.13.
In the men’s two man World Cup standings, Kripps is in second with 882 points. Friedrich leads with 1110 points. In the men’s four man World Cup standings, Kripps is in third with 1378 points. Friedrich leads with 1502 points and Lochner is in second with 1449 points. The medals for Kripps, Stones, Coakwell and Sommer will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
