Canada's Justin Kripps, Alex Kopacz narrowly miss World Cup bobsleigh podium

Canadian two-man bobsleigh team Justin Kripps and Alex Kopacz came agonizingly close to a medal finish at a World Cup event in Konigssee, Germany on Saturday. 

The duo were edged off the podium by one hundredth of a second, which put Canada's top pilot in fourth with a time of one minute, 39.51 seconds. 

"It came right down to it," Kripps, of Summerland, B.C., said. "We had good pushes today and overall I thought the drives were really good. I just had trouble with the echo corner all week and I didn't quite get it again today, so that is where you can make up the hundredth. It was pretty close, but that is bobsleigh racing."

Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis clocked the winning time at 1:38.77. Latvia's Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens slid onto the silver-medal step with a time of 1:39.05, while Germany's Nico Walther and Marko Huenbecker edged out the Canucks for third at 1:39.50.

The 28-year-old is looking to be a regular podium contender alongside new brakeman Kopacz. Kripps' previous two World Cup medals came at the track in Konigsee, where he won gold in 2014 and finished third nearly one year ago.

"I feel confident on all the tracks we race, but I just have a good feeling here," Kripps said.

"I am able to blast out of those S curves with lots of speed and you need to do that to be successful here. It is a relatively short track so if you drive those S curves well you can be good here. I just seem to have good rhythm and carry my speed to the bottom."

Calgarians Chris Spring and Derek Plug also hit the start line but did not qualify for the second run with the top-20 after placing 22nd.

Alex Gough also misses medal with disastrous run

Canadian Alex Gough was on her way to a medal, but a costly mistake in her final trip down the Olympic track in Park City, Utah dropped her into sixth place on Friday night in women's luge.

Sitting in second spot after her first run, the 28-year-old went a bit too high into corner 12 and smashed the wall in corner 13, which killed all her speed and a chance at the podium.

The most accomplished luge athlete outside of Europe in the history of the sport was forced to settle for sixth spot with a time of 1:27.804. 

"We had the same problem once in training and it cost us today, but the positive thing is the speed is there," head coach Wolfgang Staudinger said.

"There is no reason for Alex to put her head into the ground and start crying. She should keep her head up. The speed is there and she was clean the whole way. But mistakes happen, and that was her first big error in a very long time. She'll bounce back from this no problem."