Chris Spring drives to career-best bobsled world championship result

IGLS, Austria – Chris Spring teamed up with Lascelles Brown to match his best-ever bobsled world championship result when he was sixth in the men’s two-man race on Sunday.

The pair from Calgary were in the medal mix again during the World Championship race held over two days. The top Canadian sled posted a time of 3:26.78.

“I was happy with the way we executed,” said Spring. “We pushed as hard as we could, I literally drove as I best I could, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

Spring and Brown were also sixth at the 2013 world championships.

“I think overall I was happy with the way we performed but just disappointed that given our best it wasn’t enough to win a medal,” said Spring.

The Canadians kicked off the four-run race with the eighth fastest time on the flat 1,438-metre track. They moved three spots up the standings in the second heat after cleaning up the top part of the track where they made some costly mistakes. Spring and Brown held their spot in the top-five until dropping one spot into sixth.

Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., and Alex Kopacz of London, Ont., fought to the end for an eighth-place finish. Bouncing around 10th place over the first three runs, the Canadians moved up two spots into eighth at 3:27.31 when dust settled at the finish.

The Germans slid to the top-two spots of the men’s podium. Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis were crowned two-man champs with a time of 3:26.09. Johannes Lochner and Joshua Bluhm celebrated the silver medal at 3:26.26, while Switzerland’s Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann won the race for the bronze medal at 3:26.31.

Hamilton’s Nick Poloniato and Calgary’s Josh Kirpatrick finished 21st and did not qualify for the final run.