Mark de Jonge, Canadian kayaker, secures spot for Rio Olympics

Canadian kayaker Mark de Jongehas secured his spot at the Rio Olympics after winning the men's K1 200-metre race at the national sprint team trials Saturday in Gainesville, Ga.

The Halifax native qualified a quota spot with a victory at last year's world championships, but needed to win his event to make the Canadian team.

"Everything is going to plan and especially early in the season it's encouraging to have a good race and know that everything is starting off well," de Jonge said. "I've got a few races ahead to tune and tweak things and I've got big goals for Rio."

The 32-year-old earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics andprogressed to a silver at worlds in 2013, followed by two straight gold medals at the 2014 and 2015 world championships.

De Jonge won Saturday'srace by 0.84 of a second. Alex Scott, ofBedford, N.S.,was second andtienne Morneau, ofQubec City,was third.With de Jonge's status as the current world champion, he only needed the one win to seal the deal while most selections races are a best two out of three format.