Oskars Kibermanis second in Lake Placid ahead of Benjamin Maier
Lake Placid (RWH): Bobsleigh pilot Justin Kripps of Canada has secured victory in the 4-man bobsleigh at the BMW IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid. Racing with his push crew of Ryan Sommer, Cameron Stones and Ben Coakwell, the World Championship bronze medallist was the quickest pilot in both heats. Kripps achieved his third World Cup victory in the 4-man event with a 0.39-second lead over second place.
The silver medal spot at the first 4-man bobsleigh race of the season went to Oskars Kibermanis with Lauris Kaufmanis, Arvis Vilkaste and Matiss Miknis. The Austrian team made up of pilot Benjamin Maier with Marco Rangl, Markus Sammer and Danut Moldovan (0.47 seconds back) finished in third. This marked Maier’s first podium finish in the 4-man bobsleigh in almost two years; the last time he made the podium was when he finished second in Königssee (GER) in January 2018.
The Olympic Champion, World Champion and defending World Cup holder Francesco Friedrich (GER, 0.60 seconds back) missed out on the 4-man bobsleigh podium at the World Cup race in Lake Placid. Tied with his team mate Johannes Lochner (GER) and his crew, Friedrich finished in fourth place.
In sixth place, Codie Bascue with Blaine McConnell, Adrian Adams and Kristopher Horn achieved the best result for the World Cup hosts Team USA.
Following the first of the season’s eight races in the 2019/2020 BMW IBSF World Cup, the overall standings are led by Justin Kripps (CAN, 225 points) followed by Oskars Kibermanis (LAT, 210) and Benjamin Maier (AUT, 200).
Further information, the World Cup results and the latest overall standings are available at ibsf.org, many photos of all races at //www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]">Flickr / IBSFsliding. ©RWH2019
