And with that in mind, Moose Jaw product and Team Canada four-man bobsleigh brakeman Ben Coakwell finds himself in a decent position, indeed.
Coakwell teamed up with driver Justin Kripps along with Ryan Summer and Cam Stones to finish in third at the fourth and final International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup meet in Innsbruck, Austria this past weekend.
It marked the team’s third podium finish of the season and secured a third-place finish in the World Cup standings, with the 2020 campaign kicking off at the beginning of January due to the ongoing pandemic.
In Innsbruck, Coakwell finished third overall, with the only major difference in times between them and first-place Friedrich Francesco from Germany coming from their starts -- in the first run, Francesco put down a 4.97-second push compared to Kripps’ 5.12, with the margin of difference at the line 0.23 seconds. Run two saw Germany put down the best start of the meet at 4.95 seconds, with Kripps rolling out in 5.10. That race saw Canada finish 0.16 back of Francesco.
All told, Coakwell and crew would land 0.39 seconds back of Germany and 0.17 seconds back of second-place Austria.
Kripps was coming off a fifth-place finish in Konigssee, Germany after landing third during the Jan. 17 weekend in St. Moritz, Switzerland and second in Winterberg, Germany on the Jan. 10 weekend.
Kripps finished third in the World Cup rankings with 794 points, 36 back of Austria’s Benjamin Maier and 106 back of Franchesco, who won all four races this season.
Coakwell, 33, was a former standout running back with the University of Saskatchewan before picking up his new sport in 2013. He quickly rose through the ranks and ended up cracking Team Canada’s roster for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, where he finished 12th overall as the brakeman for Nick Poloniato.
All told, Coakwell has won 11 medals on the World Cup scene, including four gold -- three on the Lake Placid track in 2019, the other last year in St. Moritz -- to go along with a pair of silver medals.
Next up for Coakwell and crew will be the World Championships in Altenberg, Germany on the Feb. 13-14 weekend.
