Canadian kayaker de Jonge moves closer to defending title at canoe worlds

MILAN – Halifax kayaker Mark de Jonge took another step toward defending his world title in the men’s K1 200 metres by winning his heat Friday at the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.

de Jonge had the second-fastest time overall in heats behind France’s Maxime Beaumont. The Halifax native will race in the event semifinal on Saturday.

Seven Canadian boats in total advanced to their respective semifinals through Friday’s heats.

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe of Trois-Rivieres, Que., won her heat in the women’s C1 200 metres. Vincent-Lapointe is an eight-time world champion in the discipline, which is currently a non-Olympic event but is enjoying strong participation numbers at this year’s worlds.

The men’s C2 1000-metre duo of Ben Russell (Dartmouth, N.S.) and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny (Trois-Rivieres, Que.) also won their heat to move on to Saturday’s semifinal. Russell and Beauchesne-Sevigny have been fourth at the last two worlds and need a top-six result to qualify Canada a quota spot for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Other boats moving on to the semifinals are: Michelle Russell of Fall River, N.S., in the women’s K1 200; Genevieve Orton of Lake Echo, N.S., and Una Lounder of Dartmouth, N.S., in the Women’s K2 200;Brady Reardon of Burlington, Ont., Adam van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., Pierre-Luc Poulin of Lac Beauport, Que., and Philippe Duchesneau of Sherbrooke, Que.,in the men’s K4 1,000; and Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny of Trois-Rivieres, Emilie Fournel of Montreal, Kathleen Fraser of Toronto and Hannah Vaughan of Dartmouth in the women’s K4 500m.

Burlington’s Mark Oldershaw will race the men’s C1 1,000 final on Saturday, while Ryan Cochrane of Halifax and Hugues Fournel of Lachine, Que., will race the men’s K2 200 final.