Canadian bobsleigh athletes Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz had a strong finish in the first heat of the two-man event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea on Sunday.

Kripps and Kopacz finished in second place with a time of 49.10 seconds, just 0.02 second behind the first-place team of Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga of Latvia.

There wee 30 teams competing in the heat, including three Canadian teams.

Christopher Spring and Lascelles Brown finished in eighth place while Nick Poloniato and Jesse Lumsden finished 10th.

In the second heat, Kripps and Kopacz finished with a time of 49.39 seconds for a second-place ranking.

Two German teams were tied for the first place spot. Nic Walther and Christian Poser had a time of 49.27 seconds, while Johannes Lochner and Christopher Weber had a time of 49.34 seconds.

In the cumulative results Kripps and Kopacz are in second place with a total time of 1:38.49, just 0.10 seconds behind the top-ranked German team.

The two-man bobsleigh competition continues on Monday, Feb. 19.