Canada's Kripps, Stones slide to 2-man bobsleigh bronze at World Cup in Austria

Justin Kripps and Cam Stones helped deny a medal podium sweep by Germany in two-man bobsleigh with a bronze performance on Saturday in Innsbruck, Austria.

The Canadian tandem posted a time of one minute 43.96 seconds, 48-100ths behind the victorious Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis (1:43.48), the reigning Olympic champions who prevailed for the second time this season on the World Cup circuit.

"We are always trying to be in the fight for the medals so being in the race with a shot at a medal made for a good day," Kripps said. "I haven't had much success here, so it was nice to get one.

"I thought we executed really well today. Cam had really good starts especially in the snow."

WATCH | Canadians Kripps, Stones capture 2-man bobsleigh bronze at World Cup event:

Friedrich also extended his streak to 34 consecutive World Cup two-man races with a medal, having won 27 gold and seven silver during his two-man streak. This doesn't include the Olympic two-man victory from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games he shared with Kripps, and three two-man world titles in that span.

Friedrich's teammates, Johannes Lochner and Christian Rasp, were second on Saturday in 1:43.84. Latvia and Great Britain placed fourth and fifth, respectively, ahead of Germany's Christoph Hafer and Matthias Sommer in sixth.

A week ago, Kripps of Summerland, B.C., piloted Ryan Sommer, of White Rock, B.C., Ben Coakwell, of Saskatoon and Stones of Whitby, Ont., to a sixth-place finish in a four-man event in Austria.

The Canadian men were also fourth on consecutive days in late October at an Olympic test event in Beijing.

The U.S. got two top-six finishes in women's monobob, with Elana Meyers Taylor improving to 2-for-2 on the season with another victory. Germany's Laura Nolte was second, and Breanna Walker of Australia was third.

Canada got fourth and fifth with Christine de Bruin and Cynthia Appiah, and reigning world champion Kaillie Humphries was sixth for the U.S.

"I had two main goals today – to drive Kreisel and corner nine well. I told myself the result didn't matter and that if I did those two things well today, I would be happy," de Bruin said. "I accomplished those goals so overall I'm very happy and excited for next week's race in Altenberg."

The bobsleigh weekend concludes Sunday with women's races and four-man competitions.