Star swimming champion Alia Atkinson won the 100-meter Short-Course breaststroke gold medal at Berlin’s FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup on August 7, 2017. Atkinson added this medal to the gold she had already won in the competition’s 200-meter Short-Course event on August 6, the anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. She clocked a time of 1:04.71 minutes in the 100-meter preliminaries, covering the first 50 meters in 30.71 seconds, the second-fastest time in the qualifiers. She then swam the first 50 meters in the final in 29.37 seconds and her win was never in doubt from that moment. Her time was over half a second ahead of the field. Atkinson had twice before performed with that level of speed: in Hong Kong when she clocked a final time of :02.91 minutes and r in 2016 when she equaled the world record in 1:02.36 minutes. Her final time in Berlin was 1:03.16 minutes faster than Jenna Laukkanen of Finland and Fanny Lecluyse of Belgium, and her performance was the best in Berlin after winning bronze in 2013 and sliver in 2016.
Photo Credit: Instagram @sleekjamaica
