Canada’s Justin Kripps and Alex Kopacz put down two of the fastest starts of the day on Nov. 28 while sliding to a sixth-place finish on one of the toughest tracks in the world as the World Cup bobsleigh two-man season got underway in Altenberg, Germany.
Competing in their first race together, Kripps of Summerland, and Kopacz, of London, Ont., put down the second and third-fastest start times of 1:53.63 on the punishing Altenberg track.
“It was pretty good today. It is always good to get into the top-six in a snow race because anything can happen,” said Kripps in a press release. “I really like these technical tracks. You have to be very focused.
"The new sled is running well. I’m still trying to get a feel for it," Kripps continued. "We have all the parts needed for the podium, we just need to put it all together.”
One of those key parts was adding the 25-year-old Kopacz to his team this year — a move that is increasing Kripps’ start times and velocity down the track.
“It was a great start for us and something to celebrate,” said Kopacz. “We came out of the groove in our second load which put us into a bit of skid which is not good, but our training is going well and we need to keep getting better.”