Kripps bounces back, but finishes 8th overall
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Canada’s Alysia Rissling and Cynthia Appiah ended their rookie season on the women’s World Cup bobsled circuit on a high note with a bronze-medal win on Saturday.
Rookie pilot Nick Poloniato, from Hamilton, teamed up with veteran Lascelles Brown to finish a career-best fourth in the men’s two-man race.
Poloniato, with a two-run time of 1:41.21, led all three Canadian men’s sleds into the top 10. Calgary’s Chris Spring and Neville Wright slid to seventh place with a time of 1:41.34. Justin Kripps, of Summerland, and Jesse Lumsden, of Burlington, Ont., rebounded after a difficult opening run to post the second-fastest time in the final heat to secure eighth spot overall, clocking in at 1:41.35.
Germany’s Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis won the test event in Korea with a time of 1:40.82. Latvia’s Oskars Kibermanis and Matiss Miknis slid to the silver medal at 1:41.12, while Germany’s Johannes Lochner and Joshua Bluhm were third in 1:41.16.
Edmonton’s Rissling and Toronto’s Appiah rocked fast starts and near perfect driving on the tricky 16-corner Olympic Track at the Alpensia Sliding Centre to win their first World Cup medal together at the season-ending race, clocking a third-place time of one minutes 44.06 seconds.
The Canadian duo put down the third-fastest second-run start time at 5.33 and Rissling got the sled down the track in the second fastest down time at 51.96 to secure the bronze medal.
The Canadians finished just behind a dynamic one-two American threat. Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans secured the overall World Cup title after winning the race with a time of 1:43.65. Elana Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones were second at 1:43.80.