Canadian Olympic bobsleigh champion Justin Kripps joins national team as coach

Canada's Olympic bobsleigh champion Justin Kripps is becoming a coach.

The 35-year-old from Summerland, B.C., is joining the national bobsleigh team as the program's new technical coach. The move comes two weeks after Kripps announced he was retiring from competition after 16 years in the sport.

"I'm extremely excited to take on this new role and pass on the knowledge I've accumulated over my career," Kripps said in a release. "I think coaching is the best way for me to have a positive impact on the next generation of athletes. I'm looking forward to working with the program and our team of coaches to help all of these athletes achieve their own performance goals and dreams while developing my own skills as a coach."

Kripps is the only Canadian to pilot both a two- and four-man sled to the Olympic podium, racing to gold in the two-man with Alex Kopacz in 2018, and then bronze in the four-man at the Beijing Olympics in February, with Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell.

"He garners tremendous respect," said Chris Le Bihan, the high performance director of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. "There is no doubt his extensive experience and knowledge of what it takes to hit the start line and win will help ensure Canada's bobsleigh athletes, in all positions of the sled, work together as a team to continue to chase down the international podium."

Kripps, a four-time Olympian, told The Canadian Press last month that he'd accomplished more than he'd ever dreamt of in the sport, and wondered after winning bronze this past winter in Beijing: "Where's the motivation going to come from to work as hard as I would have to for another four years? I want to put that energy somewhere else."

He said safety had also become a concern