The four-time Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich is slowly running out of opponents on the bobsleigh track.
After the retirement of the World Cup runner-up Benjamin Maier from Austria, Canadian Justin Kripps is now also retiring. This was announced by the world association IBSF on its website.
After his Olympic double in Beijing, record world champion Friedrich declared that he would like to continue his career until the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
35-year-old Kripps competed in his last race in four-man bobsleigh at the Beijing Winter Olympics and finished third. Four years earlier in Pyeongchang he became Olympic champion in the small sled at the same time as Friedrich.
“I lived my dream for 16 years and represented my great country all over the world. I don’t want to miss even the most difficult moments of it, because usually the greatest successes came immediately afterwards. Thank you Canada,” wrote Hawaii-born Kripps Taking leave.