Canada has equalled its medal total at the Beijing Olympics with its 18th visit to the podium in London.

Sprint kayaker Mark de Jonge, 28, took bronze in the 200-kilometre race, marking the first time he's won an Olympic medal.

"I wasn't nervous," de Jonge said in a statement distributed by the Canadian Olympic Committee. "I felt comfortable and I felt so much support from back home. It was a good race. It was not my perfect race, but I am so happy to get a medal!"

In April, the Halifax resident broke a middle finger when he dropped a dumbbell, but managed to recover well enough for the Summer Games.

De Jonge finished behind the gold-medal winner, Britain’s Ed McKeever, and silver medallist Saul Rivero Craviotto of Spain.

It's de Jonge's first medal in a major competition since he took silver in the 1,000-metre kayak race at the 2007 Pan American Games. He won bronze in the same competition in 2003 in the 1,500-metre race.