Canadian Olympic gold medalist Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia led Canada to a gold medal in a four-man World Cup in Lake Placid, New York on Saturday. For Kripps it was his second career gold medal in the World Cup four-man competition, but first as a driver. Kripps was in the four-man sled driven by Canadian Olympic gold medalist Pierre Lueders of Edmonton, Alberta when Canada won a World Cup event in Cortina, Italy on January 13, 2008.
Kripps, Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan, Ryan Sommer of White Rock, British Columbia and Cameron Stones of Whitby, Ontario, posted a winning time of 1:49.54. They reached the podium by 0.16 seconds over Germany, which posted a fourth place time of 1:49.70. Latvia won the silver medal with a time of 1:49.61 and Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 1:49.67.
Kripps is in 12th place in the World Cup standings with 713 points. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, who finished fourth in Lake Placid, leads with 1502 points.
Canadian bobsledders won two more World Cup medals on Friday. In the women’s competition, Christine de Bruin of Edmonton, Alberta and Kristen Bujnowski of London, Ontario won the silver medal with a time of 1:55.17. They reached the podium by 0.11 seconds over Mariama Jamanka and Franziska Bertels of Germany, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:55.28. Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 1:54.79. Stephanie Schneider and Deborah Levi of Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 1:55.27. For De Bruin, it was her second World Cup medal of the season, as she won silver in Altenberg, Germany with Bujnowski on January 5.
Meanwhile in the men’s two-man World Cup, Kripps and Stones won the bronze medal with a time of 1:52.65. They beat Nico Walther and Paul Krenz of Germany by three one hundredths of a second as the German team posted a fourth place time of 1:52.68. Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 1:52.35. Romain Heinrich and Dorian Hauterville of France won the silver medal with a time of 1:52.63. Kripps is now in 10th place in the World Cup two-man standings with Friedrich in first.
The World Cup bobsled competition will now move to Calgary this weekend with the 2019 World Bobsled and Skeleton Championships taking place in Whistler, British Columbia starting at the end of the month. The World Cup medals for Kripps, Stones, Coakwell, Sommer, de Bruin and Bujnowski will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Kripps won the gold medal in men’s two man bobsled at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Lueders won the gold medal in men’s two man bobsled at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.
