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The Chronicle Herald
Mark de Jonge felt a rush of joy and relief as he crossed the line in the K-1 200-metre final at the 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow, securing a gold medal Sunday.

Years of mental and physical training combined with a snappy tailwind to push him to the 33.961 - second victory, barely off the fastest time - 33.945 seconds - at the world championships, a record he set during Saturday's semifinals.

"I knew as soon as I crossed that I had finally broken through and won myself a world championship," de Jonge in a phone interview afterwards. "After a year or preparation, on the 35 seconds that mattered, I was able to put it all together.

"I had a really good showing yesterday. I was faster than the world record, so I was really happy about that and pretty confident that I was a decent lead ahead of the rest of the field."

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