Chris Spring leads Canada to sixth in four-man bobsled World Cup event

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland – Chris Spring bounced back after a difficult two-man race to finish in sixth place in the World Cup four-man competition on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Spring, who piloted his four-man sled to a bronze medal finish earlier this year in Lake Placid, N.Y., teamed up with Tim Randall (Toronto), Josh Kirkpatrick (Calgary), and Neville Wright (Edmonton) to post a sixth-place time of two minutes 9.05 seconds on the 1,700-metre track.

The Canadians were sitting in fourth after the opening run, but dropped to seventh after posting the seventh fastest time on the historic Olympia bobsleigh run at the birthplace of the sport.

The two-time Olympian from Calgary spent the first week of 2017 in a German hospital evaluating a meniscus tear in his knee. He was back on the start line last week with a brace on his leg, and put in a gutsy effort Sunday.

The Latvians grabbed the top-two spots on the podium. Oskars Kibermanis, Janis Jansons, Matiss Miknis and Raivis Zirups won the gold medal with a time of 2:08.60. Oskars Melbardis, Daumants Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Janis Strenga were second at 2:08.73.

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp and Thorsten Margis edged out their countrymen for the bronze medal with a time of 2:08.90.

Canada had three other sleds in the four-man race.

Justin Kripps (Summerland, B.C.), Cam Stones (Hamilton), Jesse Lumsden (Burlington, Ont.), and Ben Coakwell (Saskatoon) were 16th at 2:09.80.

Nick Poloniato (Hamilton), Dan Sunderland (Calgary), Derek Plug (Calgary) and Keenan MacDougall (Calgary) were 17th at 2:09.90.

Kaillie Humphries all-women’s crew which included Melissa Lotholz (Barrhead, Alta.), Cynthia Appiah (Toronto) and Kasha Lee (Ottawa) finished 32nd and did not qualify for the second run.