Summerland’s Justin Kripps just missed getting onto the World Cup bobsleigh podium in Konigssee, Germany. On Dec. 12, Kripps and teammate Alex Kopacz came agonizingly close to winning their first World Cup medal together after a fourth-place finish in men’s two-man bobsleigh racing. The Canadian duo were edged off the podium by .01 on a track that feels like home for the nation’s top pilot. The Canadian sled clocked a time of one minute, 39 seconds and 51 tenths of a second. “It came right down to it,” said Kripps in a press release. “We had good pushes today and overall I thought the drives were really good. I just had trouble with the echo corner all week and I didn’t quite get it again today so that is where you can make up the hundredth. It was pretty close, but that is bobsleigh racing.”
The next day Kripps and his four-man crew go into the holiday break with a 10th-place finish. The team clocked a time of 1:38.67. “Our pushes were a little slow and we made a couple of mistakes down the track,” said Canadian bobsleigh head coach Stefan Bosch. “It wasn’t a horrible run, but we are after more out here. When you are a tenth behind in the push and make little mistakes going down the track, it eventually catches up to you and you are going to fall back.”