Canada’s Justin Kripps wins a World Cup four-man bobsled race in Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Canada’s Justin Kripps won his first career four-man bobsled World Cup race Saturday, rallying his team back from fourth place to top the podium.

Kripps, of Summerland, B.C., finished his second run in 54.75 seconds to move into top spot.

Kripps, along with Cam Stones, of Whitby, Ont., Saskatoon’s Ben Coakwell and Calgary’s Ryan Sommer were in fourth entering the final run.

“I thought after the first run we had a good shot,” Kripps said. “I knew the boys could push faster than we did in the first run, and they did. I’m just so happy for all the team.”

Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis drove to the silver medal, and Russia’s Maxim Andrianov was third.

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Germany’s Francesco Friedrich missed the podium for the first time all season, coming in fourth. He remained comfortably in the World Cup four-man overall points lead with one race remaining.

Kripps had previously won three silvers and a bronze in four-man bobsled but had never topped the podium. He said the team has been starting to come together of late.

“We are just starting to gel right now, and we will build on this momentum to the final races on home ice (Calgary and Whistler),” said Kripps, who took bronze with Stones on Friday in a two-man race.

Monaco’s Rudy Rinaldi was the surprise leader after the first heat, leading by one-tenth of a second. But he crashed in his second run and finished 19th.

The top U.S. sled was piloted by Hunter Church, who placed eighth on the Americans’ home Mount Van Hoevenberg track.

Chris Spring piloted his Canadian sled of Neville Wright, Fabio Goncalves Silva and Dexter Janke were 10th at 1:50.37.

Nick Poloniato drove his crew of Patrick Norton, William Auclair and Kostelnik Teodor to 18th at 1:51.00.

The Canadian Press