Pembroke Pines-based Jamaican Swimmer Alia Atkinson showed off her Olympic form recently at the Arena Pro Swim Series. Atkinson achieved Olympic-qualifying times in three separate events.
She opened the meet with a stellar performance in the preliminaries of the Women’s 200 meters breaststroke, clocking 2:29.18 minutes, which is well below the Olympic qualifying time of 2:34.99. The 27-year-old also surged in the 200-meter freestyle finals. Though finishing 28th overall, Atkinson clocked her fastest time ever at 2:02.54.
But it was in her star event, the 100 meters breaststroke, that the Jamaican swimmer blew everyone out of the water, clocking 1:07.38 minutes in the preliminary round – marking the fastest time among all 78 swimmers in the event. All was ready for a showdown in the finale between Atkinson and rival American swimmer Katie Meili. But in the final, Meili just slipped by Atkinson with a time of 1:06.75 minutes, beating out Atkinson’s time of 1:07.47 minutes.
Despite the loss, Atkinson seems well places for her main events going into the 2016 Rio Olympics this summer. Atkinson is currently ranked number 1 in the Long Course Meters (LCM) Women 100 meters Breaststroke
