Summerland’s Justin Kripps made a solid start to the pre-Olympic season, making the podium in the two- and four-man bobsleigh at the Canadian National Bobsleigh Championships.
Kripps paired with newcomer Bryan Barnett, a Canadian Olympic sprinter, to take silver in the two-man event in Whistler. While Kripps was happy with their performance, there is room for improvement.
“Whistler is one of the most challenging tracks in the world and not the easiest place to have your first race” said Kripps. “Bryan really showed a lot of potential there and I was reasonably happy with my driving, but I know I can do better.”
The four-man event was held in Park City, Utah in conjunction with the U.S. team trials. Team Kripps put in two solid heats to take the bronze medal.
“In the first heat, our push was a bit slow but the drive was good,” said Kripps, “Then in the second heat the team stepped it up for a much better start, but I made a couple of errors in the drive. Now we have to work on getting all the good parts together and being consistent.”
The first World Cup race in the series of eight will be held in Calgary at the end of November.