Photo: Alia Atkinson (Getty Images)
Jamaica’s top female swimmer Alia Atkinson continued her outstanding season with an excellent display at the sixth stop in the FINA/MASTBANK World Cup Series, October 28-29, 2014 in Tokyo.
She ended the meet with a medal haul of one gold and two silver medals. She copped gold on the opening day, in the women’s 100 Breaststroke , winning in a lifetime-best short course time and Jamaican national record in 1:02.86. She upset the world record Holder, Rutha Meilutyte from Lithuania, who finished second in 1:03:72. She just missed on the world record by a half-second.
It was also the first time Atkinson, now ranked No.2 on the all-time short course list, had beaten the Lithuanian in any breaststroke event. She earned another $1,500 for the victory. She earned 976 FINA points for her victory.
Atkinson returned on the second day to capture two sliver medals. She finished runner up behind super woman Katina Hosszu in the 100 metre medley in a time of 58,.47 s.
Rutha Meilutyte reversed the order in the women’s 50 breaststroke handing Atkinson her first defeat for the series in this event. Atkinson was timed in 29.66s with the winner touching home in 29.36s. Atkinson still leads the event with 29.12 s set back in Dubai.
Atkinson is now tied for third in the current standing, on 255 points with Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia after Winning 48 in Tokyo.
The Jamican will be looking to close out the series with a bang when she competes on the final stop is Singapore (Nov. 1-2).
Swimmers are racing for $1,500 for first, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. There is also a $10,000 bonus offered for a world record performance swim.
The stakes are high with $300,000 in prize money offered to the sixth highest ranked men and women swimmers.
After the Singapore leg, the men’s and women’s World Cup winners will be awarded $100,000, second place $50,000 and third place $30,000.
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