Jamaica’s Olympian and swimming sensation Alia Atkinson won a gold medal in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke competition at the FINA World Cup in Singapore. The champion swimmer set a new season’s best time with 30.31 seconds. Her performance moved her up to fifth fastest in the world. Atkinson swam the 50-meter distance faster than she did at the World Championships where she was in fourth place, showing that at age 30, she is still turning in excellent performances. Atkinson finished first, ahead of Breeja Larson of the United States. Both of the women won NCAA titles at Texas A&M during their careers there. Winning the bronze medal in the event was Ran Suo of the People’s Republic of China.

Recently, Atkinson won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke in Jinan, China, which means that she will compete in her fifth consecutive Olympic Games. She also won the 100-meter event in Singapore, defeating Vitalina Simonova of Russia by two-tenths of a second. Atkinson has won back-to-back 100-meter breaststroke events on the circuit with these victories. Of the 50-meter breaststroke event, Atkinson said she was happy with her win, but noted she was not satisfied with her execution. “Technique-wise,” she said she was not happy because for the final five meters she had not remained as “elongated as I wanted to be.” She was also “shortcoming into the wall,” she said.

The wins in Singapore brings Atkinson’s total medal count to five on the circuit as she prepares for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

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