Atkinson powers London Roar to second straight ISL win
Published:Wednesday | November 4, 2020 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
Olympian Alia Atkinson helped to guide the London Roar to their second straight win of the 2020 International Swimming League (ISL) season in Budapest, Hungary, this past weekend.
The short course record holder had critical wins in the breaststroke and relay races, which led the Roar to victory after they accumulated 499.0 points in their second match held on Friday and Saturday. The Los Angeles (LA) Current finished second with 478.5 points, while the Tokyo Frog Kings came third with 446.5 points. The DC Tridents finished last with 287.0 points.
The 30-year-old Atkinson won all three rounds of the 50m breaststroke races on day two of the meet Saturday, winning 33 points for the Roar. She also won the 100m breaststroke event in 1:03:75 seconds, becoming the third woman to swim under 1:03 seconds this season. Her teammate Annie Lazor came second in 1:04:45 seconds, while Lindsey Kozelsky of the DC Tridents finished third in 1:05:29 seconds.
There were early wins for Atkinson on Friday, the first day of the meet, with wins in the 50m breaststroke and the 4x100m individual medley.
FINISHED THIRD
In total, she gained 40.5 individual points, the third-highest among athletes over the course of the two-day meet. LA Current’s Tom Shields and Beryl Gastaldello finished first and second with 62.5 and 54.5 points, respectively. Atkinson moved to 17th place in the season MVP race, having posted a total of 72.50 points from two matches.
The Roar are now currently tied with the Cali Condors for second place in the overall season standings with eight points each, one point away from leaders LA Current with nine points. However, the Current have played one more match than both the Condors and the Roar.
The top four teams after all four preliminary matches have been played will compete for the title later this month. The Roar will next compete on November 5-6 against the Frog Kings, the Condors and the New York Breakers before finishing their regular season on November 9-10.