Atkinson poised for gold

Jamaica's Alia Atkinson is poised for gold in today's final of the women's 50 metres breaststroke at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada.

Atkinson has the fastest time going into the medal round after she won her semi-final in 29.09 seconds. Americans Lilly King, 29.17, and Molly Hannis (29.88) have the second and third fastest times respectively.

In first-round action, Atkinson also had the fastest time as she won her heat in 29.48 seconds. Finland's Jenna Laukkanen was next best with 29.71, while American King did 29.84.

Dominic Walter (400m freestyle) and Keanan Dols (100m backstroke) did not advance past the preliminaries in their events. Walter was 61st overall in 4:03.16. The fastest qualifier was Marcus Kroyer of Denmark with 3:48.20.

In the men's 100m backstroke Dols finished 43rd overall in the heats with 55.39 seconds. China's Jiayu Xu was the fastest semi-final qualifier with 50.21 seconds.