Kripps, Stones return to medal podium for Canada in 2-man bobsleigh
Pick up bronze while Friedrich leads German sleds to 1-2 finish at home in Winterberg
Justin Kripps and Cam Stones responded in a big way to last weekend's eighth-place finish in Latvia, sliding to a bronze medal in 2-man bobsleigh on Saturday in Winterberg, Germany.
The Canadians stopped the clock in one minute 50.63 seconds.
WATCH | Kripps and Stones collect bronze in Germany:
"We were happy with the race today," Kripps said. "We had two solid pushes, solid drives and we were consistent. That's what we're working on right now as well as testing some equipment."
Francesco Friedrich delivered a stellar performance at home — the 100th medal of his World Cup career — partnering with Alexander Schueller for a 1:49.78 finish and his second consecutive victory on the heels of his 21-race World Cup winning streak being halted.
German teammates Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer earned silver in 1:50.11.
"It feels good to pull a medal off on a historically tough track for us in the two-man," Stones said. "Justin laid down two crisp runs and gave us a sure shot at a medal."
Canadians Chris Spring and Jay Dearborn were 10th of 22 finishing teams in 1:51.24.
Canada's Appiah, Lotholz miss monobob podium
Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. got her fourth women's monobob victory of the season on Saturday, the 25th overall win of her career in major international competition.
Australia's Breanna Walker was second, and Germany's Laura Nolte was third. American Kaillie Humphries, a Calgary native, took fourth, meaning the Americans joined Canada as the only nations with two sleds in the top six spots.
Toronto's Cynthia Appiah was fifth and Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., was sixth for the Canadians.
Meyers Taylor had the fastest time in the first heat and the second-best time in the second heat. She finished in one minute 58.76 seconds. Walker's time was 1:58.93 and Nolte 1:59.01.
Meyers Taylor has 19 wins in traditional two-person World Cup races, two more in world championship events and now four in monobob. The monobob event will be part of the Olympic program for the first time at the Beijing Games next month, meaning women's bobsledders now have two medal events.
With files from The Associated Press
