Germany sweeps 4-man bobsleigh at Altenberg

Canada's four-man bobsleigh crew piloted by Justin Kripps slid into 10th spot on one of the most difficult tracks in the world on Sunday in Altenberg, Germany.

Kripps, from Summerland, B.C., piloted his new crew of Ben Coakwell (Saskatoon), Alex Kopacz (London, Ont.), and Josh Kirkpatrick (Calgary) to a time of 1:53.37.

German sleds swept the World Cup four-man podium. Francesco Friedrich teamed up with Martin Putz, Jannis Baecker and Thorsten Margis for the gold medal at 1:51.79.

"The snow was really the difference today. When it is snowing like that anything can happen," said Tom De La Hunty, team manager of Canada's bobsled team.

Snow got the best of the Canadians in their first start where they pushed the 14th fastest time.

"We just got stuck in the snow in the grooves," said De La Hunty. "Justin didn't drive particularly well but we had a great second run. The boys pushed the sixth fastest time and it was great for them to come back and make sure we are in the top 10 next week."

Nico Walther, Marko Huebenecker, Christian Poser and Eric Franke slid to the silver medal with a time of 1:51.88, while Maximillian Arndt, Kevin Kuske, Ben Heber and Kevin Korona completed the triple-medal haul for the Germans with a time of 1:52.03.