BEIJING, China – Canada concluded the Beijing Olympics with a 26th medal on Sunday.

The Canadian four-man bobsleigh team led by Justin Kripps took the bronze medal, preventing a German hat-trick in this discipline.

Kripps and teammates Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell started the day third after two of four runs in the competition. They only held a lead of 17 hundredths of a second ahead of the crew of German Christoph Hafer.

The Canadians, however, saw their lead dwindle a little on Sunday, but they held on to finish the race ahead of Hafer by six hundredths of a second. They clocked 3:55.09 for their four runs.

It was a second Olympic medal for Kripps, who won silver in the two-man bobsleigh at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Two other Canadian boats participated in the event, one of which relied on the services of a Quebecer.

Driver Christopher Spring’s quartet, which includes former football player Samuel Giguère, took 9th place with a time of 3:56.99. Cody Sorensen and Mike Evelyn are the other members of the team.

As for the crew of Taylor Austin, their 23rd place after three runs did not allow them to qualify for the last round, since only the first 20 quartets had access to it. They finished the event with a time of 2:59.27 through the first three rounds.

The move from the maple leaf to the team mixed parallel slalom event was short-lived.

In the round of 16 of the discipline, Canada drew 2-2 with Slovenia, but the latter qualified on the combined clock.

Canadians Erin Mielzynski and Trevor Philp won their downhill, while Erik Read and Cassidy Gray lost theirs.

In the women’s 30-kilometre freestyle mass start event in cross-country skiing, Cendrine Brown recorded a 16th place finish, the best Canadian result. She skied the distance in 1:31:21.6.

Katherine Stewart-Jones (30th), Dahria Beatty (39th) and Laura Leclair (51st) also participated in this final.

Before the start of the day, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that skater Isabelle Weidemann will be Canada’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games.