Jamaica’s champion swimmer Alia Atkinson continued on her gold winning performances at a World Cup swim meet stop in Tokyo, Japan, over the past weekend. She won the 50-meters breaststroke on November 13 in 28.95 seconds, just off her October 2018 world record effort of 28.56.
In winning the race Atkinson again defeated her main rival Yulia Efimova of Russia who was second in 29.56 secs. In the race Atkinson had a k reaction time of 0.64 to the Russian’s 0.68. Australian Emily Seebohm was third in 29.99.
The 100m breaststroke on Saturday’s second day of action at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre, was always expected to be another ding-dong battle between Atkinson and Efimova, but Atkinson again proved too strong for her Russian rival winning gold in 1:03.09. Atkinson is also the world record holder in the 100-metre breaststroke, her favorite event.
Atkinson’s 100-meters time at the weekend meet was her fastest split of the season. According to report, she was not winded at the end of the race which augurs well for the potential defense of her title at the December 11 to 18 World short-course Championships in Beijing, China.
Atkinson was recently conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander for outstanding representation of Jamaica in the field of swimming and being the first black woman to win a World Championships title.
Prior to that, she had already covered herself in glory by extending her lead in having the most world record swims from the region with her world record-breaking exploit in the 50m breaststroke on October 6.
