Canadians De Bruin, Bujnowski score women's bobsleigh bronze in Austria

The Canadian duo of Christine De Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski landed on the women's bobsleigh podium at the first World Cup event of the season on Sunday in Austria.

The team finished their two runs in a combined time of one minute, 46.51 seconds, good enough for bronze behind a pair of German sleds.

Laura Nolte and Leonie Fiebig took gold in 1:46.22, and compatriots Kim Galicki and Anabel Galander finished 0.39 behind them for silver.

It was the second podium this fall for the Canadians – De Bruin and Bujnowski also took bronze at an Olympic test event in Beijing in October.

WATCH | Canada's De Bruin, Bujnowski capture bobsleigh bronze in World Cup opener:

Bujnowski and de Bruin pushed the fourth, and top start times in Igls en route to the podium.

"That race was all Buj," de Bruin said. "She got us those start velocities and I just tried to keep the speed down the track. We are back."

Bujnowski was happy to be back after missing the entire 2021 season recovering from an injury.

"I'm not used to getting top start times, but I definitely won't get tired of it," Bujnowski said. "We had a couple of great pushes and impressive velocities, so I am really happy with that.

"The field is especially tacked right now, and I am pushing against so many brakewomen who are my idols, so it is awesome to stand amongst them."

In the four-man bobsleigh event, Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., piloted Ryan Sommer, of White Rock, B.C., Cam Stones, of Whitby, Ont., and Ben Coakwell, of Saskatoon, to a sixth-place finish.

Germany's Francesco Friedrich won with a time of 1:41.31, followed by Brad Hall of Great Britain and Germany's Johannes Lochner.