IGLS, Austria — Christine de Bruin and Justin Kripps led Canada to a pair of bronze medals Sunday at a World Cup bobsled stop.
Pilot De Bruin of Stony Plain, Alta., teamed with brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski of Mount Brydges, Ont., to take third place in the two-women bobsled.
Laura Nolte and Kim Kalicki gave Germany a 1-2 finish.
The Canadians mixed together two top-four pushes with consistent drives to clock a two-run time of one minute 46.86 seconds.
“We continue to do our best to be consistent each time we go down the track,” said de Bruin, 32. “I had the same goals today – drive well and push fast. We were able to do that and come out with a medal.”
The Canadians were second after their first run, but dropped a spot after clocking the fourth-fastest time in their second trip down the 1,478-metre track.
It's the third bronze of the season for de Bruin and Bujnowski.
“We were hoping to upgrade the colour of the medal this week, but can’t complain about being back on the podium,” said the 29-year-old Bujnowski.
In the four-man bobsled, Kripps, from Summerland, B.C., led a crew of Ryan Sommer (White Rock, B.C.), and Olympic teammates Cam Stones (Whitby, Ont.) and Ben Coakwell (Saskatoon) to bronze in a time of 1:42.10.
Francesco Friedrich of Germany finished first to extend his World Cup four-man bobsled winning streak to six races. Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis was second at 1:42.10.
“It was a really tight race, and we are happy to come away with a medal,” said Kripps, who also won the bronze in Saturday’s two-man event. “The runs and pushes were pretty good with just a couple of little mistakes. It’s a great sign for us to be able to move up from sixth (first run) to third."
Friedrich — by far the most dominant bobsledder in the world — is 2 for 2 in four-man races this season after winning all four World Cup events in that discipline last season.
Friedrich now has 65 medals — 50 gold, 11 silver, four bronze — in his last 69 major international two- and four-man races including World Cup events, the Olympics and the world championships.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2021.
-- With files from The Associated Press.
The Associated Press
