Canadians Kripps, Lumsden snag silver at bobsleigh World Cup
Kaillie Humphries, Phylicia George slide to 4th-place finish at Igls track
Canada took home a silver medal at a bobsleigh World Cup stop at the Igls track in Innsbruck, Austria, on Saturday, with Justin Kripps and Jesse Lumsden staking claim to the second-place spot.
The duo of Kripps and Lumsden (1:43.98 seconds) were 0.27 back of gold, behind Germans Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis.
"We had a great day out there. I got the equipment I needed this year so that, combined with great pushes from my teammates, has been what we needed to get on the podium and be in the hunt every race," Kripps said.
"Normally, I'm not a big fan of the Igls track. It's mostly about the push and the equipment here, but now that we have those two pieces working well for us, it paid off here."
Canadians Nick Poloniato and Lascelles Brown originally finished third, just behind their teammates at 1:44.01, but were later disqualified due to a faulty sled. It would've been the first World Cup medal of Poloniato's career.
"Earlier in the season, Nick had a few crashes and those crashes caused the brake push handles of his sled to be too narrow," said Helen Upperton of CBC Sports.
"The coaches and mechanic have been using a device to stretch the opening back to its original position. Today during his material check, the material jury found that the cowling was too narrow in the middle of the opening by 4mm."
Switzerland's Clemens Bracher Michael Kuonen took their place for bronze.
Canada grabbed another top-10 spot, with Christopher Spring and Neville Wright placing sixth.
The second-place finish for Kripps kept him atop the World Cup rankings with 1014 points, with Spring in second (963). Friedrich rounds out the top three with 859 points.
Humphries misses podium
Kaillie Humphries and Phylicia George slid just out of the medals in the women's event.
The Canadian pilot and brakeman were competing in their first World Cup competition together and finished in fourth-place, just 0.24 seconds back of a medal.
The event was won by Germany's Stephanie Schneider and Annika Drazek, who finished in a time of one minute, 46.28 seconds. Americans Elana Meyers Taylor and Kehri Jones (1:46.64) took silver while Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz (1:46.65) grabbed the bronze.
Canadian pilots Alyssia Rissling and Christine de Bruin finished seventh and ninth, respectively.
Humphries remains on top of the World Cup standings, leading Meyers Taylor by 14 points.
You can watch more bobsleigh action on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on Road the Olympic Games, our weekly show spotlighting the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world.