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Summerland’s Justin Kripps completes first double-medal weekend of career

High-powered Canadian bobsledders celebrate four-man silver at World Cup in Igls
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Powered by the fastest crew on the planet, Justin Kripps piloted his Canadian four-man bobsleigh to the silver medal on Sunday at the final World Cup before the holiday break in Igls, Austria.

Kripps, who makes his home in Summerland, and his newly-formed crew of elite multisport athletes including Alex Kopacz (London, Ont.), Jesse Lumsden (Burlington, Ont.), and Seyi Smith (Ottawa) rocked their Calgary Stampede-powered sled to a second-place time of 1:42.60, and their first medal together since joining forces at the third race of the season in Whistler, B.C.

“With this crew, I know we have the starts to contend and it really shows on a starters track like Igls,” said the 30-year-old Kripps, who along with Lumsden also won the silver in Saturday’s two-man race.

Related: Kripps strikes silver in Austria

It was the first time in Kripps’ career as a pilot that he has won medals in both race disciplines on the same weekend.

“Getting medals in both races is great. We want to be contending in two- and four-man every race, and we are all feeling great about how we’ve performed through the first five races this year,” added Kripps. “It was a great weekend for us here in Igls. The boys stepped up big in the starts and coming away with medals in both races is huge. What a great way to go into the Christmas break.”

Sitting in the third spot after the first descent down the flat 14-corner track that puts an emphasis on the top of the track, Kripps took advantage of the work by the crew at the start to climb into the silver-medal position.

Lumsden, Kopacz and Smith took things to a new level in the final heat, shaving .04 off their third-ranked opening run push time to post a final heat start time at 4.96.

“What a great team effort. After pushing the third-ranked start time in heat one, we knew we needed to step up, and widen the gap for heat two, and we did that,” said Lumsden. “We executed and it felt great. Silver in both races is solid results heading into the Christmas break. I’m proud of all these guys on the team, but there is still lots of work to be done.”

The Canadians were sandwiched between two German sleds on the podium.

Johannes Lochner, Marc Rademacher, Joshua Bluhm and Christian Rasp won with a time of 1:42.45. Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis slid to the bronze medal at 1:42.65.

Team Kripps has doubled his career medal count with five medals in the first half of the season, bringing his total to 10 as a pilot including his second-place two-man finish at last year’s World Championships. The silver on Sunday was just his third career four-man medal. He also won a four-man silver earlier this year in Park City with a different crew.

Kripps, who is leading the overall World Cup standings in the two-man, has now moved into third place in the four-man standings.

Complete results: http://www.ibsf.org/en/component/events/event/169487


Steve Kidd
Senior reporter, Penticton Western News
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