‘Interesting’ as in ‘world champions a year out from the Olympics’.
Coakwell -- the brakeman for Kripps’ Team Canada sled -- joined Ryan Sommer and Cam Stones to post the top time in the first run of the day at the Altenberg, Germany track, crossing the line in 54.49 seconds.
Their 5.41 second start was fifth-best of the run, but they made up ground in the bottom section of the track, sliding into third place by the third intermediate before taking the lead for good in the final time trap before the finish.
Kripps would finish sixth in 55.02 in the second run of the day, but their first run and overall speed of 128.72 kilometres were both the best of Wednesday practice and tops through the first two days of training.
Austria’s Benjamin Maier had the best time of the second run at 54.51.
The first practice session on Tuesday saw Kripps finish eighth (54.89) and fifth (54.91). World Cup leader Franceso Friedrich of Germany (54.53) and Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis (54.81) had the top times for that day.
Teams will have one more day of training on Friday before the World Championship runs take place, with the first two heats on Saturday and final two on Sunday.
Kripps heads into Worlds as the third-ranked team in the World Cup standings.
