Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia and Alexander Kopacz of London, Ontario have won Canada’s sixth gold medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Kripps and Kopacz won the gold medal in the two-man bobsled.
However, Kripps and Kopacz needed to share the podium. Their time of 3:16.86 was matched by Germany. The German gold medal winning bobsledders were Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis.
Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga of Latvia won the bronze medal with a time of 3:16,91. Kripps and Kopacz reached the podium by two tenths of a second. Nico Walther and Christian Poser of Germany finished in fourth place with a time of 3:17.06.
It has been a great season for Kripps and Kopacz. Prior to the Olympic Winter Games, Kripps had an outstanding World Cup season where he won the Crystal Globe with 1631 points. Kripps won a World Cup event in Altenberg, Germany and had 127 more points than Friedrich.
A native of Naalehu, Hawaii, Kripps spent time in British Columbia and Hawaii growing up. He started bobsledding at the age of 18. There is no doubt that this was Kripps’s biggest victory of his outstanding bobsledding career.
Team Canada now has 17 medals, the third most overall. Norway leads the medal standings with 27 medals and Germany is second with 19 medals.
