2 Canadian pilots in top 10 at midway point of Olympic 2-man bobsleigh

Two Canadian pilots are in the top 10 but have a lot of work to do to have a shot at a medal after the first two heats of the men's two-man bobsleigh event at Beijing 2022.

Christopher Spring dropped from sixth place after the first heat to eighth place after the second with a combined time of one minute 59.57 seconds. Justin Kripps, the 2018 Olympic co-gold medallist, is in 10th with a combined time of 1:59.69.

Fellow Canadian Taylor Austin moved up from 21st to 20th with a combined time of 2:00.52 after the first two rounds Monday at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

Two German pilots, Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner, retained the top two spots after the second heat with combined times of 1:58.38 and 1:58.53, respectively.

Rostislav Gaitiukevich of the Russian Olympic Committee currently sits in third with a combined time of 1.59.32.

WATCH | Two-man bobsleigh second heat:

Finding balance is key to bobsleigh success for Justin Kripps

3 years ago

Duration 2:40

After a less than desirable performance in Sochi, Justin Kripps changed his mindset to focus on strength mentally and physically to become a gold medallist, and wants to continue that push in Beijing.

Spring and brakeman Mike Evelyn were both happy with their position after the first two runs.

"I was proud of the performance today both at the top and all the way down the track," Spring told the CBC's Marivel Taruc. "We struggled a little bit in training, so I knew that coming out here it would be difficult to have two consistent runs, but I'm really happy with the performance."

Evelyn said the pair need to "push a little bit faster" in order to move up the standings and compete for a medal.

WATCH | Canada's Spring in 8th after 2 heats:

Kripps and brakeman Cam Stones were disappointed but optimistic that they could fix some of the mistakes they made in both runs, including almost flipping the sled.

"You can't afford to do that at the Olympics, you have to be pretty much perfect to have a shot," Kripps told Taruc. "We're going to look to finish strong tomorrow."

Stones said that with so few practice runs on the track leading up to competition, it's really a "race to see who can figure it out the fastest."

WATCH | Finding balance is key to bobsleigh success for Justin Kripps:

The top 20 teams after the third heat will move on to the fourth and final run.

The final two runs of competition are set for Tuesday at 7:15 a.m. ET and 8:50 a.m. ET.

The first heats of the two-man competition followed the women's monobob event, in which Canadian Christine de Bruin won a bronze medal. Cynthia Appiah of Canada finished eighth.

Spring said watching the two women race "was really inspiring" for him ahead of his first two heats.

"I was super-pumped to see those girls do well."

WATCH | Christine de Bruin slides to monobob bronze medal: