Canada's Justin Kripps steers 4-man bobsleigh crew to bronze medal
CBC
Canada's Justin Kripps guided his crew to four-man bobsleigh bronze on Sunday at the Beijing Olympics.
The Summerland, B.C., native completed four heats in three minutes 55.09 seconds, holding off fourth-place German Christoph Hafer by just sixth one-hundredths of a second.
"Absolutely huge. I'm at a loss for words. The boys did amazing and we couldn't be happier," Kripps, 35, told CBC's Marivel Taruc after the race.
Germany still landed the top two spots on the podium, with Francesco Friedrich winning gold (3:54.30) and Johannes Lochner scoring silver (3:54.67).
WATCH | Canada speeds to bronze in 4-man bobsleigh:
Kripps' medal is Canada's 26th and final of the Beijing Olympics, tying for the second-most Canadians have ever produced at a Winter Games. However, that number also included 14 gold medals when it was first recorded at Vancouver 2010. Canada claimed four titles in Beijing, to go with eight silver and 14 bronze.
The all-time Canadian record was set at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics with 29 (11 gold, eight silver, 10 bronze).
Kripps' four-man squad also included Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell.
Sommer's fiancée, Blayre Turnbull, will also return home from Beijing with a medal after helping the Canadian women's hockey team win gold.
"Coolest moment of the Olympics for me," Turnbull wrote on Instagram of Sommer's bronze.
Kripps held a slight lead of 0.08 seconds on Hafer entering the fourth and final heat of the event.
Sliding just ahead of Kripps, the German sled posted its slowest time in the final heat, leaving a still-tiny margin of error for the Canadians.
They used all of it. At one point in their race, the Canadians were outpacing Hafer by 0.01 seconds, needing a nearly perfect finish to prevent a German sweep of all six men's bobsleigh medals in Beijing.
When they saw green on the clock as they crossed the finish line, they knew there'd be medals around their necks.
