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JANELLE ATKINSON QUALIFIES FOR 800 M FREESTYLE FINAL AS TAMARA SWABY BREAKS 100 M BUTTERFLY NATIONAL RECORD August 1, 2002….At the Commonwealth Games Jamaica had a good day in the Swimming Pool as Janelle Atkinson this morning qualified for final of the 800 M Freestyle when she swam 8:41.91, her fourth fastest time in that event. Tamara Swaby swam a personal best and new National Record time of 1:04.25 in the 100 M Butterfly but just failed to advance to the semifinals. In the 800 M Free, Atkinson’s goal was to qualify for the final but avoid lane 4 by not have the fastest time in the preliminaries. Atkinson was the fastest off the blocks with a .68 second reaction time and settled into an easy pace behind Australia’s Amanda Pascoe and England’s Nathelie Brown. Swimming 1:03.43 for the first 100 metres, Atkinson then stuck to her race plan swimming a consistent 1:05 split time for each of the next six 100 metres. By the 300 Metre mark, Brown began to tire and fell behind, leaving Atkinson and Pascoe to jockey for position for the top two positions. At the final turn, Atkinson and Pascoe were .17 seconds apart and the two headed for the finish. With 15 metres to go Atkinson slowed to ensure that she finished second. Pascoe touched in 8:40.88 and is seeded second going into the final, which will be swum on Friday evening. In heat 2, England’s Rebecca Cooke seemed intent in making a statement left the field in her wake and swam a fast 8:33.31 to win the race and the top seed time in the final. The stage is now set for an intriguing battle in the final between three of the world’s top distance swimmers. Despite a personal best time in the 100 M Butterfly, Tamara Swaby was disappointed at not going below 1:04 and qualifying for the semifinals. She got of to a fast start and showed good form and speed in the first 50 metres. Approaching the turn in forth place, Swaby appeared to miscalculate her distance from the wall and lost momentum having to glide into the wall. She surfaced in 7th place, but despite a good finish she could not make up the distance needed to qualify for the semifinals. Swaby finished 18th overall and is the second alternate for the semifinals to be swum this evening. Australia’s Petria Thomas is the top seed going into the semifinals after she broke the Commonwealth Games record swimming a fast 58.45. All of the Jamaican swimmers are scheduled to compete tomorrow. Atkinson will compete in the 800 M finals scheduled for the evening session while in the morning preliminaries which start at 10:00 AM, Mariana Chuck will swim the 50 M Backstroke, Angela Chuck and Tamara Swaby the 50 M Free and Ramon James the 100 M Backstroke. End. |
