Photo: Alia Atkinson (Getty Images)
Jamaica’s swimming sensation Alia Atkinson continued from where she left off at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, claiming two top podium finishes at the just concluded Doha FINA/MASTBANK Swimming World Cup 2014 in Doha, Qatar from August 27-28.
Atkinson splashed off first in the women’s 100m breaststroke on Wednesday, an event that she won at the 2013 staging in a time of 1:03.38. Lining up at the start she went out like a bullet from a gun, from the sound of the starters whistle, recording a very fast reaction time of 0.69 seconds. She was in total control of the race from start to finish to win comfortably in a time of 1:03.79, ahead of American Breeja Larson, who swam home in a time of 1:05.06, and third was Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir of Iceland with 1:06.88
Atkinson was scratched from her second event at the meet, which was the 100m individual medley. She returned with new energy in the 50-metre breaststroke on Thursday and like she did in the first race, was off like a rocket to stop the clock in a blistering 29.12 seconds to win. And just like the 100m breaststroke, she left her two runner ups in her trail, beating the American Breeja Larson by more than half a second, who took silver in 29.87 seconds and Iceland’s Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir (30.67s) taking the bronze. Her reaction time was recorded at 0.62s
The former and current Texas A&M swimmer now turn her attention to the next stop in Dubai where she will compete from August 31 to September 1, with her personal and Jamaican best clocking of 1:02.91 minutes over the 100-metre breaststroke in sight.
Atkinson pocketed $3,000 in prize money for two days’ work. Atkinson also earned the second best performance for her 50 breaststroke swim for 18 bonus points.
The remainder of the series reads August 31 – September 1 in Dubai (UAE),September 29-30 Hong Kong (HKG), October 4-5 Moscow (RUS), October 24-25 Beijing (CHN).October 28-29 Tokyo (JPN) and November 1-2 Singapore (SIN).
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