If there was any question as to whether or not Ben Coakwell could come home with a medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, they were answered and then some on Thursday evening.
Coakwell joined driver Justin Kripps, Cam Stones and Ryan Sommer to put down the top time in both the third and fourth four-man bobsleigh training runs to emerge as a hard medal favourite when things get underway later tonight.
Kripps cleared the Yangqing National Sliding Centre track in 58.81 seconds in their third training run, finishing 0.18 seconds ahead of Lavtia’s Oskars Kibermais and 0.29 seconds up on Canada’s Christopher Spring.
Their next trip down the track a couple of hours later was a touch slower, as they finished in 59.22, good enough for a 0.30 second advantage on ROC’s Maxim Andrianov and 0.31 seconds up on Kibermanis. Spring finished sixth 0.58 seconds back.
Kripps opted to skip the final two training sessions later Thursday.
The first run of four-man bobsleigh is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Moose Jaw time, followed by the second heat at 9:05 p.m. Medals will be handed out on Saturday, with the third run at 7:30 p.m. and final trip down the track at 9:20 p.m.
