KRIPPS DOUBLES UP ON SILVERS
B.C. PILOTS SEPARATE BOBSLED CREWS TO WORLD CUP PODIUM FINISHES IN AUSTRIA
IGLS, AUSTRIA• Justin Kripps piloted his Canadian four- man bobsled to the silver medal on Sunday at the final World Cup event before the holiday break.
Kripps, f rom Summerland, B.C ., and his newly formed crew of Alex Kopacz of London, Ont., Jesse Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., and Ottawa’s Seyi Smith slid to a second- place time of one minute 42.60 seconds for their first medal together since joining forces for the third race of the season in Whistler, B.C.
“With this crew, I know we have the starts to contend and it really shows on a starters track like Igls,” said Kripps, 30, who also won the silver in Saturday’s two- man race with Lumsden.
“It was a great weekend for us here in Igls. The boys stepped up big in the starts and coming away with medals in both races is huge. What a great way to go into the Christmas break.”
Sitting in third spot after the first descent down the flat 14- corner track, Kripps shaved off .04 to post a final heat start time at 4.96.
Germany’s Johannes Lochner, Marc Rademacher, Joshua Bluhm and Christian Rasp won gold with a time of 1: 42.45. Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis, also of Germany, took bronze at 1:42.65.
It was the first time in Kripps’s career as a pilot that he has won medals in both race disciplines on the same weekend.
Kripps has doubled his career medal count with five medals in the first half of the season, bringing his total to 10 as a pilot, including his second-place two-man finish at last year’s World Championships. The silver on Sunday was just his third career four- man medal. He also won a four- man silver earlier this year in Park City with a different crew.
Calgary’s Chris Spring, who has three medals of his own this year, teamed up with Cam Stones of Whitby, Ont., Josh Kirkpatrick of London, Ont., and Neville Wright of Edmonton, to place 13th with a time of 1:43.29.
Hamilton’s Nick Poloniato, who had his first- career World Cup medal taken back following a ruling by the IBSF jury in Saturday’s sled inspection, finished 16th with his team of Derek Plug of Calgary, Lascelles Brown of Calgary and Ben Coakwell of Saskatoon.
Kripps, who is leading the overall World Cup standings in the twoman, moved into third place in the four-man standings.
Harvey pleased with top-10 finish ❚ TOBLACH, Italy Alex Harvey completed his final tune-up for the Tour de Ski with a ninth- place fin- ish in the World Cup cross-country classic-ski pursuit race on Sunday.
Starting in f ourth spot, 14 seconds back, the 29-year-old from St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., crossed the finish line in 33 minutes 47.4 seconds.
The time behind the leaders was based on Saturday’s skate-ski event.
Norway’s Johannes Klaebo set a World Cup record with his seventh victory, winning the gold medal with a time of 33:31.1. Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov skied to the silver medal at 33: 14.1, while Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan bolted from 14th place into bronze.
Harvey was skiing with a group of four for most of the first two kilometres, which expanded to a pack of eight by the midway section of the race. Tactically working his way in the pack, Harvey took his turns in the lead until the final two kilometres, when Ustiugov broke from the front group.
“These other countries are fighting for spots at the Olympics, so they have to be on the podium every race,” Harvey said. “My goals are to be reaching my top gear by the Tour de Ski. Racing has been good training for that, and I’m exactly where I want to be at this time of the year,” Harvey said.
“I have been a little bit better than last year at this time. I have a lot of confidence now knowing that I can be in the top 10 even when I’m not at my best.”
Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., was 33rd and Graeme Killick of Fort McMurray, Alta., was 50th.
The Norwegians dominated the women’s 10- kilometre classic- ski pursuit race. Marit Bjoergen won gold in 25: 19.3, edging her teammate Ingvild Oestberg at the finish line. Oestberg settled for the silver at 25: 19.6. Heidi Weng finished third.
Emily Nishikawa of Whitehorse, was 53rd and Dahria Beatty, also of Whitehorse, was 63rd.
Lundby earns gold in WC ski jumping ❚ ❚ HINTERZARTEN, Germany Maren Lundby of Norway won her second ski jumping World Cup of the season on Sunday to share the overall lead with Katharina Althaus.
The 23- year- old Lundby soared 105 metres with her first jump and 102 on her second for 269.1 points, beating Althaus by 14.4 points after the German’s jumps of 102.5 and 99 metres.
Japan’s Sara Takanashi was third with 98 and 100 metres.
Both Lundby and Althaus have two wins and two second- place finishes from four events. They lead with 360 points, ahead of Ta- kanashi on 220.
Austria’s Hirscher in record-setting form ❚ ❚ La VILLA, Italy Marcel Hirscher dominated both runs to take a record fifth straight win in the Alta Badia giant slalom on Sunday.
The Austrian finished a massive 1.70 seconds ahead of Norwegian rival Henrik Kristoffersen, with Zan Kranjec of Slovenia 1.82 behind in third for his first podium result.
While Hirscher dropped some time in the lower portion of his opening run, he was flawless in his second trip down, increasing his advantage at every interval.
“Once I felt good with my setup in the second run, I could really attack and turn on the turbo,” Hirscher said.
At the finish, Hirscher let out a big scream then took off his right glove and held up his hand and five fingers to celebrate the record.
Hirscher broke a tie with Italian great Alberto Tomba — the pair had four GS wins each on the challenging Gran Risa course.
Calgary’s Erik Read was 17 th in the first run.
Hirscher, the six-time defending overall World Cup champion, also won a slalom in Badia in 2011.
“Ski racing is not very often fun. It’s a hard fight, hard work,” Hirscher said. “But crossing the finish line seeing all of the lights green is fun.
“Skiing on this limit is a big challenge.”
Kristoffersen also f i nished second to Hirscher in the GS in Beaver Creek, Colo., this month.
“It’s just that Marcel is so much better and I’m not good enough to beat him,” Kristoffersen said, adding that he got caught in ruts during his second run.
Olympic and three- time world champion Ted Ligety moved up from seventh after the opening run to finish fifth for his best result in more than a year.
Snow conditions were perfect, although as usual on the Gran Risa, visibility was difficult on the dark upper section.
Stefan Luitz of Germany was being treated for an apparent knee injury after going off the course only four gates into his opening run with the No. 1 bib.
Overall contender Kjetil Jansrud also went out during the first leg midway down.
The surprise of the day came from Aleksander Andrienko of Russia, who had the second-fastest second run to finish 15th with the No. 55 bib.
Hirscher drew level atop the overall standings with Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who did not enter the race.
It was t he 24 t h GS win of Hirscher’s career, matching him with Ligety for second- most alltime behind Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s 46.
He also became the first man to win five consecutive GS races at a single resort. Ligety won four straight in Beaver Creek from 2011 to 2014 and Stenmark also had four in Adelboden, Switzerland, from 1979 to 1982.
In February at the PyeongChang Games, Hirscher will chase just about the only thing he hasn’t won — an Olympic gold medal.
On Monday, a parallel GS is scheduled for the Gran Risa.
Silver for Canadian snowboarders ❚ ❚ MONTAFON, Austria Canadians Meryeta O’Dine and Zoe Bergermann captured a World Cup silver medal on Sunday in women’s team snowboardcross.
O’Dine, from Prince George, B.C., and Bergermann, from Erin, Ont., finished behind the first-place team of France’s Chloe Trespeuch and Nelly Moenne Loccoz for the Canadians’ first medal of the season.
Kristina Paul and Mariya Vasiltsova of Russia won bronze.
The men’s team of Vernon, B.C., native Kevin Hill and Baptiste Brochu of Saguenay, Que., finished ninth.