ATKINSON SETS NATIONAL RECORD IN 50 BREAST AND QUALIFIES FOR SEMI-FINAL AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES

March 16, 2006

After last nights colorful and exciting Opening Ceremony, Tamara Swaby and Alia Atkinson today kicked of Jamaica’s Commonwealth Games Swimming Competition with swims in the 50 M Butterfly, 200 M Individual Medley and 50 M Breaststroke.

It was Alia Atkinson who starred today when she smashed the Jamaican National 50 M Breaststroke record, swimming 33.09 eclipsing her old time of 33.40. Swimming in lane two (2) of the final heat, she was off the blocks in a fast .72 seconds and crossed the 25 M mark in third position. Touching fifth in the fastest of the four heats, she moved onto this evening’s semi-final in 11^th place.

Alia Atkinson also swam in the Woman’s 200 M Individual Medley but failed to move onto the final as she swam off her PB time of 2:23.57 touching in 2:26.34 to finish in 12^th place. Despite the disappointing time, the event proved to be a good warm-up swim for the 50 M Breaststroke which came just 37 minutes later.

Tamara Swaby placed twenty-seventh (27^th) in the Women’s 50 M Butterfly swimming 30.93. Swaby had a good reaction time of .75 seconds and was off the blocks in good time but she was off her pace during the first 25 metres and could not make up the gap in the last 25 metres. Jennifer Powell of the Cayman Islands timed 31.87 to finish 8^th in her heat and 32^nd overall. Australia’s Danni Miatke swam 26.67 sec. to have the fastest time going into this evening’s semi-final.

The Men’s 50 M Backstroke Games Record was broken twice in the preliminary heats, both times by swimmers from England. In heat two (2), Matthew Clay eclipsed Australia’s record time of 25.65 set at the Manchester Games in 2002, swimming 25.61 but his time stood for only three minutes as in heat four (4) his team mate Liam Tancock timed 26.42 to claim the record. Matthew Welsh moved onto the semi-finals in 3^rd place with a time of 25.56.

In other events, Jeremy Knowles was slower than his personal best in the Men’s 200 M Butterfly but moved into the final in 3^rd with a time of 2:00.17. Cayman’s Shaune Fraser just missed an automatic place in the final as his 2:02.81 put him in 9^th place. In the Men’s 50 M Backstroke, Nicholas Neckles of Barbados qualified for the semi-final with the 8^th best time of 26.81. Cayman’s Andrew McKay was agonizingly close to the semi-final as her finished 17^th, swimming 28.42.

Brad Hamilton had a day off form competition but looked very good in his training sessions. He will begin competing tomorrow (Friday) when he swims the 5o M Butterfly.