Alia Atkinson won the silver medal in the women’s 50m breaststroke, on Sunday August 9th, at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. She swam the distance just 0.06 sec back of the winner Sweden’s Jennie Johansson, who clocked 30.05 in her gold medal win.

Atkinson became the first black woman to win a world title in swimming on December 6th, 2014 when she won the 100-meter breaststroke competition at the 2014 World Short-Course Championships held in Qatar. She swam the distance in 1 minute, 2.36 seconds to tie the world record. Her victory was Jamaicans first gold medal in a world swimming championship as well. Atkinson hopes that her achievements will encourage other women in the Caribbean to participate in swimming as a sport.