Olympics

Canada's Justin Kripps remains in striking distance of 4-man bobsleigh podium

Canada’s Justin Kripps remains in striking distance of the podium after the first two runs of the four-man bobsleigh competition on Saturday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Canadian crew set course start record, sit 4th at midway point behind Germans, South Koreans

Canada's Justin Kripps sits in fourth, after setting a start record on the first day of the four-man bobsleigh competition to finish with a combined time of one minute, 38.13 seconds on Saturday in Pyeongchang. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)

CBC Sports

Canada's Justin Kripps remains in striking distance of the podium after the first two runs of the four-man bobsleigh competition on Saturday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kripps' Canada-1 sled set a start time record on their first run to finish with a combined time of one minute, 38.13 seconds to put them in fourth.

"We had awesome starts from the boys. Anytime you have the fastest start at the Olympics you know the team's really firing," Kripps said.

"We don't have the fastest speeds down at the bottom so we have to find a bit more speed tomorrow and clean a couple things up."

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Germany's Francesco Friedrich finished first after setting a track record of 48.54 on his first run to finish with a combined time of one minute, 37.55 seconds.

While Won Yunjong of South Korea is in second at 1:37.84. The hometown favourites are coached by Pierre Lueders, who won gold for Canada at the Nagano Olympics in the 2-man event.

Nico Walther of Germany took third with 1:37.90.

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Kripps, who won gold on Day 10 in the two-man event, will need to make a serious move with his final two runs if he hopes to capture his second straight medal of the Games.

Nick Poloniato and his Canada-3 finished in a tie for 13th-place with Poland at 1:38.63.

While Canada-2, piloted by Christopher Spring, finished with 1:38.64 for 15th.

The final two runs of the competition take place on Sunday at 7: 30 p.m. ET.

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