When the latest Olympic cycle began four years ago, there were a lot of questions surrounding the Justin Kripps four-man bobsleigh team.
With a new team behind the veteran driver, would they stay together through the full quadrennial? Would they have the kind of results they needed on the World Cup circuit to remain relevant? And could they contend for a medal when the 2022 Bejing Games kicked off?
The answer to all those questions came on Saturday night at the Yangiing National Sliding Centre -- and it was an overwhelming ‘yes’.
With that, Moose Jaw’s Ben Coakwell is an Olympic medalist.
Coakwell joined driver Kripps, Cam Stones and Ryan Sommer to win bronze in a time of 3:55.09, capping their four runs down the track with his first career Olympic medal.
“It’s crazy. I did some reflecting last night about our journey and it’s just like I feel like everything just lined up for us,” Coakwell told The Canadian Press the day after the run. “When we came together as a team four years ago, I had a feeling in my gut and I think the program did, too. And they kept us together. We performed early and got better and I just feel like everything sort of came together.”
Team Kripps finished second on the World Cup circuit in the 2021-22 season to go along with a third-place showing 2020-21 and 2019-20. All with the same crew, creating a valuable sense of team unity that would shine through in Beijing.
“We’ve proven what a team can do when it’s allowed to grow together and I feel like that’s a good lesson for Canada moving forward in the sport of bobsleigh,” said Coakwell, a former Central Cyclones and U of S Huskies football standout. “It’s just a great feeling to have this happen and for everything to come together at the time it needed to.”
Kripps wasted no time sending the message he was there to compete when the Games kicked off -- he put down the top times during the third and fourth training runs to immediately emerge as a medal contender.
When the competition officially began, Kripps’ first run of 58.38 seconds slotted Canada into third place, and it was a position they’d never relinquish, with runs of 59.00 and 58.44 seconds before a 59.27-second run clinched the medal.
It wasn’t without its share of late dramatics, though, as Kripps had to use all his driving skills to hold on to their medal position -- and Canada would finish 0.06 seconds ahead of Germany’s Christoph Hafer for third.
“It’s no different than Michael Jordan hitting a game-winning shot with the seconds dying,” Coakwell said. “That’s what he did (Saturday). I never had any doubt. I don’t think any of these guys did.”
Germany’s Francesco Freidrich won gold in 3:54.30 and teammate Johannes Lochner finished third in 3:54.67.
With their runs and on-track celebrations behind them, all that was left was the medal presentation. Coakwell did the honours for his teammates before Kripps hung the former running back’s bronze medal around his neck.
“We’re a brotherhood,” Coakwell said. “This team is a family first and a team second. We’ve been there for each other through it. “I just felt like I needed to do that because I just feel so strongly for these guys.”
Kripps felt much the same way about his teammates and their ongoing success.
“The guys have worked so hard and worked so well together doing all of the little details right,” Kripps said. “For us to stay together for four years and for it to end in a medal is just awesome. I’m super proud of this one.”
Click right here to watch the entire bronze medal run from start to finish
