Justin Kripps adds 4-man bronze to bobsleigh medal haul in Königssee
Justin Kripps and Cam Stones of Canada made it a two-medal weekend in bobsleigh, teaming with Ryan Sommer and Ben Coakwell to pick up a bronze medal in Sunday’s four-man event at Königssee, Germany.
It marked the seventh World Cup four-man medal of Kripps’ career and was the first time he had slid onto the four-man podium in Königssee.
On Saturday, the Canadian pilot captured his fifth international two-man medal on the 1,675-metre track alongside Stones, rebounding from last weekend’s 12th-place finish in Austria.
WATCH | Justin Kripps collects second medal of the weekend:
«There have not been too many times that we have been on the podium in both the two- and four-man races on the same weekend, so I am really pumped with the crew,» Kripps told Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. «We had great starts today.
«I made a couple of mistakes on the second run, but it was enough to hang onto the podium.»
The Canadian team had a solid push in the second run that allowed Kripps, 32, to take control of the 16-corner track that spirals down the Bavarian Alps.
«It feels great to be back on the podium for the first time since our great start to the season,» said Ryan Sommer, who along with Kripps and the others opened the 2019-20 campaign with back-to-back wins in the four-man event in Lake Placid, N.Y. «We have been looking to get our rhythm back and knew we could be competitive on the track this weekend if we dialled in our pushes and managed to drop our start tiime on the second push.»
Francesco Friedrich and his team led a 1-2 German finish on Sunday, increasing his lead atop the World Cup season standings to 53 points over teammate Johannes Lochner, who was second.
WATCH | Francesco Friedrich holds off teammate for victory:
Combined, those three pilots have claimed 14 of the 21 available medals in four-man races this season.
All Friedrich needs to do in that finale next weekend at St. Moritz, Switzerland, is finish sixth or better to clinch the four-man season title. also is comfortably ahead in the two-man standings, with three races left on that schedule.
Kripps is third in the overall standings with 1,378 points, 71 behind Lochner and 64 ahead of Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis.
«We are looking to carry this momentum heading into St. Moritz,» said Kripps.
