Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
Alia Atkinson ... made sizzling swim yesterday. - FILE
ALIA ATKINSON broke the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships (CCCAN) 15-17 Women's 50-metre butterfly record yesterday in Santo Domingo, the Dominica Republic.
Atkinson, who has already won one gold medal for Jamaica at the ongoing CCCAN, was the favourite to take last night's 50-metre butterfly after her sizzling swim earlier in the day.
Even before that, Jamaica had started well in the event, collecting one gold, one silver and a bronze on the first day of competition on Wednesday.
Atkinson's gold medal in the 15-17 women's breaststroke, which was done in a time of 2:43.82 seconds, was followed by a silver medal from Todd Johnson in the 18 and over 50m backstroke in which he swam 28.41 seconds.
JAMAICANS IN FOUR OTHER FINALS
At press time last night, apart from Atkinson's final, Jamaicans had qualified for four other finals.
Dominic Lee had the second fastest time going into the final of the 200m, Natasha Moodie made her way into the final of the 13-14 girls 200m backstroke in a time of 2:44.61 which was good enough to be the fifth fastest time.
Young Jason Adams did a little better than his teammate, qualifying for the 11-12 boys 50m butterfly in a time of 29.61 which gave him the fifth fastest time going into last night's final.
Tamara Swaby's 30.33 seconds in the heats of the 18 and over women's 50m butterfly was good enough to give her the third fastest time going into the final, while her teammate, Khalilah Robinson, followed her into the final by grabbing the last qualifying spot in a time of 30.77 seconds.
The only shadow over the Jamaican performances so far was Brad Hamilton's failure to qualify for the 50m butterfly final last night.
To his credit, he swam a personal best and set a national record of 26.84.
