Justin Kripps pilots 4-man bobsled to World Cup bronze

The Canadian four-person bobsled team, piloted by Justin Kripps, won a bronze medal in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Saturday morning at a World Cup event, finishing behind German and Russian teams.

Behind Kripps were Alex Kopacz, Ben Coakwell and Derek Plug. The team finished with a two-run time of one minute 50.07 seconds, 0.37 back from the winning Germans

"It feels amazing. We had good training on Wednesday where the sled was going pretty quick and the boys were pushing good so I was optimistic about today," said Kripps in a press release. "I was just looking for a season-best finish, but we had big push times and that was the difference."

The team posted the two fastest start times of the competition with 5.00 and 4.98 seconds.

"Big starts mean big velocity which is key to getting on the podium," said Kripps, who has now won three medals as a pilot in World Cup events.

The medal was the first for Kopacz and Plug.

Maximilian Arndt of Germany drove the German's to their gold medal, posting the fastest runs in both heats and moving into the series points lead.

Canada's Kaillie Humphries made history, as she and sledmates Cynthia Appiah, Genevieve Thibault and Melissa Lotholz became the first all-female team to compete in a four-person World Cup bobsled race. They finished last in the 17-team field.

Arndt leads countryman Francesco Friedrich by 27 points in the series standings, with four of eight races complete. Kripps sits in eighth.