Beginning Feb. 15, Summerland bobsleigh athlete Justin Kripps will be on the track at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Kripps, 31, will compete in the two-man and four-man events at the games.
In the two-man event, he will be racing with Alex Kopacz of London, Ont. while in the four-man event, his team consists of Jesse Lumsden, Kopacz and Seyi Smith of Ottawa.
The training heats for the two-man event will be held on Thursday, Feb. 15 and Friday, Feb. 16 at 10:15. All times listed are Pacific Standard Time. On Saturday, the training heats begin at 7:30 p.m.
The competitions will be held on Sunday and Monday.
On Sunday, the two-man bobsleigh competition begins at 3:05 a.m. while on Monday, the competition begins at 3:15 a.m.
The training heats for the four-man bobsleigh event will be held Feb. 21, 22 and 23 at 5 p.m. each day.
The official heats will be on Saturday, Feb. 24 and Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m. each day.
Kripps has been a bobsleigh athlete since 2006 and is competing in his third Winter Olympic games.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, he was a brakeman on Pierre Lueders’ four-man crew.
At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, he was the pilot of Canada-3. That year, the sled overturned on turn 12 in the second heat and finished in last place.
This year, Kripps has his first overall World Cup title with a bronze medal in the two-man race.
“Winning a medal at World Champs was a big highlight for me,” he said.
He adds that he feels confident going into the Winter Olympics and feels good about this year’s competition.
“I believe we can win,” he said. “That’s the goal we have going in.”
