Kripps, Appiah, de Bruin have eyes on bobsled medal podium in Beijing

Justin Kripps, from Summerland, B.C., drove to second-place overall in both the two- and four-man bobsled on the World Cup season that recently ended.

After piloting his two-man sled to glory at the Pyeongchang Olympics, Justin Kripps turned his attention to perfecting his four-man driving.

Kripps headlines Canada’s 18-member bobsled team for the Beijing Olympic Games, and the defending two-man champion is hoping to climb the medal podium twice this time around.

“I’ve traditionally had more success in the two-man, and so I wanted to get the four-man up to speed and we’ve definitely done that and had a lot of success over the last four years. I’m really excited about the four-man in Beijing,” Kripps said from Konigssee, Germany, where the Canadian team is in a holding camp before travelling to Beijing.

Cynthia Appiah and Christine de Bruin headline the talented women’s bobsled team, announced Thursday. Olympic veterans Jane Channell of Calgary and Mirela Rahneva of Ottawa and rookie Blake Enzie of Calgary are Canada’s three skeleton athletes.

Kripps, a 35-year-old from Summerland, B.C., drove to second-place overall in both the two- and four-man on the World Cup season that recently ended.

The team was hit hard by a COVID-19 outbreak in December that saw 11 athletes in isolation. Kripps wasn’t one of them — “I managed to avoid the outbreak, thus far anyway, knock on wood,” he said.

The two years of the global pandemic, Kripps said, however, has strengthened the team in some ways heading into the Games.

“We’ve certainly, as a team, had to figure things out and get things done, even if it’s not what we’re normally used to. That ranges from having to train in garages and using resistance bands sometimes instead of weights, running in fields instead of on tracks, and just being super flexible on the road,” Kripps said.