Summerland’s Justin Kripps will make his debut in the pilot’s seat at the next World Cup in Whistler Feb. 4 to 5.
The world cup circuit is not new to Kripps. He has won several medals including a gold, but that was while serving in the brake position on team Pierre Lueders. After the 2010 Olympics, Kripps decided to try driving the sled. Since then he has rapidly learned the ropes (including winning several gold medals on the Americas Cup circuit, and putting in a creditable performance whilst recently learning the European tracks).
With the recent crash of Team Spring (who were representing Canada as Canada No. 2) in Germany, Kripps will now pilot the Canada No. 2 sled.
“It will be a bitter-sweet race for me and the guys,” said Kripps recently in his blog www.justinkripps.ca. “I’ll be racing with Derek Plug, Tim Randall and James McNaughton – Derek and Tim normally race on Team Spring, who were involved in a brutal crash in training for the Altenberg World Cup. Thankfully, everyone is OK but Chris Spring, Bill Thomas and Graeme Rinholm are likely out for the season.”
Randall was also in the sled, but was able to walk away and is still able to race this season. Kripps is excited to race in the World Cups in the Canada 2 spot; however, it was his hope at the start of the year to race alongside Team Spring in these World Cups.
“It sucks that Randall has had his season cut short like this,” said Kripps. “Chris is a hell of an athlete and a great guy and I can’t wait to race alongside him when he has recovered from his injuries.”
Kripps will represent Canada in the 2012 bobsleigh world championships to be held in Lake Placid, NY at the end of February. Kripps will be competing in both two-man and four-man events. Broadcasts of all three championships will be live at www.bobsleigh.com (the official website of the International Bobsleigh Federation).
