Justin Kripps is like the eye of the storm.
Amid the tension and testosterone rising at the top of the track before a bobsled race, the Canadian pilot exudes a calmness that contrasts with the impending burst of muscle and speed.
“He really embodies the definition of cold blood,” said teammate Ben Coakwell.
Kripps’ composure extends beyond the track and into the management of individuals and craft.
“He doesn’t deal with nervous energy. He just reacts fearlessly, Coakwell explained. He has to. We are pushing a bobsleigh. It is this explosive expression of sport. Then he jumps on the seat and it’s like all the noise has to go away because that’s not how it works when you’re riding a bobsleigh. »
Kripps credits her mother, Libby — she and her father Rob were aid workers for UNICEF — for passing on the personality elements of an unflappable nature to her.
“No matter what happens, she is the voice of reason. She is stable and calm. Luckily, I inherited that, confided Kripps. It served me very well in a sport like this, where the pressure is high and things happen very quickly. Staying calm is a huge asset. I inherited this from my mother, but I also worked on it a lot by meditating. »
Hailing from Summerland, BC, Kripps finds the energy he and his three teammates need before launching off the top of the starting track.
“It’s really easy to let it blow up and kind of waste that energy,” Kripps said. You want to use the excitement of this great moment, but you want to channel it into what you’re doing. If you let her, it becomes a kind of anxiety and pressure. »
Hard worker
Kripps, 34, helped Canada win gold in the two-man bobsleigh in 2018 with teammate Alex Kopacz. Canadians and Germans clocked the same time to share the top step of the podium in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Kripps became the second man to help Canada win Olympic gold, two decades after Pierre Lueders achieved the feat in Nagano, Japan.
Kripps will look for back-to-back Olympic titles beginning Feb. 14 in his first two of four two-man bobsled runs. The men’s four-man bobsleigh event will take place on the final weekend of the Beijing Olympics.
What Canada could accomplish in the four-man bobsleigh in Beijing served as motivation for Kripps to continue his Olympic journey, but he wasn’t done with the improvement process either.
“After winning this medal, I didn’t think I was done. I was thinking that maybe I could still improve, he insisted. For me, the sporting aspect never came with the intention of winning a medal. The medal is in a way a symbol that represents all the work that I have done and where I have come to. My career has not been that of an ultra-talented athlete who has always been incredible. I worked on a lot of things mentally and physically. »
Kripps has made it known that he may continue competing after Beijing and that he will eventually transition into the coaching role. He is engaged to Breanne Wilson and the wedding is scheduled for April in California.
In pursuit of success
The Canadians won gold in the four-man bobsleigh in 1964 and bronze in the discipline in 2010. The boat is over a meter longer and about 100 pounds heavier than the bobsleigh together. Both additional bodies and personalities add to the variables to consider.
“It’s always been one of my goals to get that four-man win,” Kripps said. It’s a bit more complicated. Team dynamics are more important with more people in the bobsled. »
Kripps, Coakwell, Ryan Sommer and Cam Stones won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and finished third overall at the World Cup in 2019 and the shortened 2020-21 season.
They took the fourth echelon at the Olympic test event held at Yanqing Track in October.
“We’ve built an incredible team with Cam Stones, Ben Coakwell and Ryan Sommer and we just have such great chemistry and position in bobsledding,” Kripps said.
Coakwell feels the track at the Beijing Games suits the strengths of the driver and teammates well.
“It’s not a very difficult track. It’s small, small things that you have to do really well and that’s where Kripps dominates, Coakwell expressed. The push part is designed for our team, so we were very lucky. Not all push starts are the same. Some are steep. Some are long and flat. We are not a team built for a long, flat start. »
“During the week we were there, we found it very easy to attack quickly. We will definitely get into the race from the start and we hope that Kripps will be unleashed on the track as well,” concluded Coakwell.
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The two-man bobsleigh event at the Beijing Games will take place on February 14 and 15 and the four-man event will be presented on February 19 and 20.
