Halifax’s Mark de Jonge wins gold at ICF canoe sprint world championships

MILAN – Canadian Mark de Jonge won gold in the K1 200-metre event at the ICF canoe sprint world championships on Sunday to defend his 2014 title.

De Jonge, an Olympic bronze medallist from Halifax, finished in 34.802 seconds.

Maxime Baumont of France placed second in 34.993 while Sweden’s Petter Menning was third in 35.002.

“It feels pretty good because it is so close between the top three of us here the entire season, so lining up next to them was a little daunting,” De Jonge said. “I tried to focus on what I had to do, and right off the start I had a bit of a lead so I was able to just keep pretty cool for the race.

“The plan was to kill it the first 50 (metres) because I know I’m pretty good after that.”

De Jonge made a statement in his semifinal on Saturday, posting the fastest overall time to take top spot.

He holds the world’s fastest time for the event at 33.961 seconds.

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