Team Kripps Slides into Ninth at Bobsleigh World Cup in Calgary
—Team Spring places 12th in two-man race—
CALGARY—Justin Kripps and Bryan Barnett teamed up to finish ninth on their home track at the Bobsleigh World Cup in Calgary on Friday night.
Battling through a difficult week of training, Kripps, of Summerland, B.C., and Edmonton’s Barnett clocked a two-run time of 1:50.33 to finish as the top Canadians.
“I wasn’t good all week in training so I was happy that I was able to clean things up a bit today,” said Kripps. “I cleaned up the top of the track. Just a lot of little things that you wouldn’t see. I wasn’t perfect by any means.”
While not a podium, it was his best two-man finish as a pilot in Calgary.
“The more I drive this track the worse I seem to get, but for others you have a good start here and you can do it. You don’t have any bad habits,” said Kripps. “I’m not making excuses. It was my fault, I just don’t seem to do well here.”
Latvia’s Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens finished on top of the pack with a time of 1:49.60. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and Martin Grothkopp were second at 1:49.63, while Switzerland’s Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann were not able to hold their firs-run lead, dropping to third spot at 1:49.66.
It was a tough day for Canada’s other sled driven by Calgarian, Chris Spring. The two-time Olympian joined forces with Calgary’s Lascelles Brown where they finished 12th after posting a two-run time of 1:50.50.
“I came into this race fully expecting to win a medal,” said Spring, who won the bronze here last year in the two-man with Jesse Lumsden on the brakes. “I didn’t drive well at all. It was a frustrating day.”
The Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup in Calgary wraps up on Saturday with women’s and four-man races.
Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton is a non-profit organization and the national governing body for the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Adidas, Eurotech – Viking Engineering, BMW Canada, The Globe and Mail, Conceptum Sport Logistics, Therapeutica – along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium, and SAIT Polytechnic. Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton develops Olympic and world champions. Please visit us at www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.
Complete Results: www.fibt.com
Top-Five Men’s Two-Man Bobsleigh Results:
1. Oskars Melbardis/Daumants Dreiskens, LAT, 1:49.60; 2. Francesco Friedrich/Martin Grothkopp, GER, 1:49.63; 3. Beat Hefti/Alex Baumann, SUI, 1:49.66; 4. Alexander Kasjanov/Aleksei Pushkarev, RUS, 1:49.87; 5. Yunjong Won/Youngwoo Seo, KOR, 1:49.88
Other Canadian Results:
9. Justin Kripps, Summerland, B.C./Bryan Barnett, Edmonton, 1:50.33; 12. Chris Spring, Calgary/Lascelles Brown, Calgary, 1:50.50