Bobsleigh-Canada's Kripps keeps the four-man a three-bob race as Germany leads at halfway

YANQING, China : Germany's bobsleigh aces edged ahead in the first act of the four-man event on Saturday, but formidable runs from Justin Kripps' team kept the Canadians within touching distance going into Sunday's finale.

The German team behind pilot Johannes Lochner came close to perfection with their first run, but the 'Ice Kaiser' Franceso Friedrich and crew came roaring back in their second run on a bitterly cold morning in the Yanqing hills 74 kilometres northwest of Beijing.

Less than a blink of an eye separated them at the half way mark, with Lochner 0.03 seconds behind Friedrich's time of 1:57.00 after two runs.

Friedrich took gold in the two-man event on Tuesday while Lochner the silver. While they can celebrate as team mates after the race, the teams are rivals until then, both pilots said.

"The first who makes a mistake will be losing some more than one-tenths, or maybe two or three-tenths of a second," Lochner said after the race.

The crews do not share information despite being on the same team, said Christoph Weber from Lochner's team.

"That's the biggest secret in bobsleigh. We're opponents in the race so we're not sharing anything."

Several competitors were more than a match for the Germans in pushing their bobsleighs to speed at the start of the Yanqing track, but nimble piloting and top-notch bobsleigh design saw the Germans gaining momentum on its serpentine bends.

Their closest opponent was Justin Kripps' Canadian team which powered through two runs with a time of 0.38 seconds to keep the race open.

"It's pretty tough," Kripps said.

"They have really good equipment, they're pretty fast today. Good starts from Friedrich, we're right there with Lochner, but he has really good speed down the track."

Kripps has