Kripps pilots Canada to bronze in four-man bobsleigh

YANQING, China — Canada's Justin Kripps won a bronze medal in four-man bobsled on Sunday at the Beijing Games, holding on to third place by just six-100ths of a second.

He piloted his crew to an overall time of three minutes 55.09 seconds at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

It was a one-two German finish as Francesco Friedrich edged Johannes Lochner, with both teams finishing well ahead of the Canadian.

Kripps, from Summerland, B.C., started the fourth heat with a slim edge over Germany's Christoph Hafer and hung on for the podium appearance.

"When you cross that finish line, all of a sudden you're aware of how much pressure there was," Kripps said. "So in that moment, it felt amazing to have accomplished it."

The Canadian sled had a strong start at the Flying Snow Dragon track. Kripps said he made a small mistake coming out of the fifth corner but raced clean from there.

Kripps won gold in the two-man bobsled at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games but settled for a 10th-place showing in that event this week.

He figured out the track in the four-man with a crew that included Ryan Sommer of White Rock, B.C., Cam Stones of Whitby, Ont., and Ben Coakwell of Moose Jaw, Sask.

Kripps was in third place after the first two heats on Saturday.

Chris Spring of Priddis, Alta., finished ninth overall. Another Canadian sled piloted by Austin Taylor of Lethbridge, Alta., did not make the 20-team cut for the final heat.

Other than test races and a training week last fall, the new 1.6-kilometre, 16-curve track was relatively unknown to international sliders before the Games.

The course, located northwest of Beijing in the Xiaohaituo mountain range, features a 360-degree spiral and a sharp two-turn section nicknamed the 'dragon's tail.'

Kripp