Atkinson happy with 2020 campaign
Published:Wednesday | December 9, 2020 | 12:18 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, world record holder Alia Atkinson is reasonably pleased with her performances at the recently concluded International Swimming League (ISL). She didn’t go as fast as she hoped, but she was glad to get back to racing.
The Jamaican helped the London Roar to a third-place finish in the six-week ISL series and came within reach of her best short course breaststroke clockings.
“Looking back at this whole year and everything that was going on, I’m glad I was able to touch 58 seconds and 1.02, which were solid times. Can’t really ask for more,” she reviewed from her base in Florida after her return from Budapest, host city of the series.
Versatile as ever, she clocked 58.97 seconds for the 100 metres individual medley in the October 18-19 leg of the series. She peaked later in the 100m breaststroke with a victory timed in 1 minute 02.66 seconds in the November 14-15 semi-final leg, and added a nippy third-place finish in the November 21-22 final of the 50-metre breaststroke with a swim timed at 28.88 seconds.
Her short course world records are 28.56 seconds and 1.02.36.
Asked to evaluate her 2020 preparation, the four-time Olympian admitted to the challenges presented by the uncertainties around COVID-19 and the competition calendar.
“How do you train and stay motivated when you don’t know what’s going to happen, when you don’t know if you’re going to have another competition? It’s really hard to swim without knowing what you’re swimming for,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson didn’t really shift into high gear until the 2020 ISL season was confirmed.
DIFFERENT FEELING
“You could see the switch and the change in practices and the mentality to really focus and fine-tune, but when I got there, there was a completely different feel. Everybody was excited to race but you could feel the absence of competition for eight or nine months, you could see it in the body. The body wasn’t used to racing any more,” Atkinson explained.
Times, Atkinson said, were not her top priority, she simply didn’t want to let her teammates down.
“It was really exciting and nervous at the same time, to swim and to compete again but just not knowing where you are, what you’re going to do when you go in the water, whether or not you would be beneficial to the team or if would you need a couple more weeks to get to swim,” said Atkinson.
With the league behind her, Atkinson is steeling herself for the challenges that lie ahead.
“As of now, with COVID restrictions, we can only swim a minimum amount of times per day. I’m swimming once per day, which is different from when I’m doing short course, not long course, and Olympics is long course. So I’m okay for short course but until we can get more people in the pool with COVID restrictions, it’s easier to do short course, so long course and getting ready to do that type of training is going to be a big obstacle as well, come January,” reported the US-based champion.