ON DAY 2 OF CANADA CUP

Alia Atkinson racked up another 2 victories on day 2 of Canada Cup in Etobicoke, ON. Alia won the women’s 50 breast in Canada Cup record time of 29.87; a record which she previously set in the preliminaries earlier in the day. Martha McCabe and Tera Van Beilen were second & third respectively with 31.34 and 31.58.

For Atkinson, that was another Jamaican Record, and pushed her to 10th of all time. Atkinson is so incredibly strong, which is how she won an NCAA title (though in the 200) at A&M. Her long course has really come a long way since then, including a 4th-place finish at the Olympics in the 100 in 2012, but her short course hasn’t suffered one bit. Atkinson’s best swimming may be yet to come, and it’s encouraging to see the South Florida trained swimmer sticking around in the sport for now.

Alia also won the 100IM in a time of 59.96 (another personal best and National Record), but was dethroned in the 50 fly by 16 year old Noemie Thomas of Vancouver. Thomas clocked a 25.99 to Alia’s 26.85 andKaterine Savard’s 27.00. Savard had won the 200 fly earlier in the day over the hard charging Thomas (2:08.84) who ran out of pool to finish just behind Savard (2:08.52); she was also just .22 seconds off of Savard’s National Age Group Record in that event.

This report was contributed by Mike Thompson, a Canadian swim coach and journalist, who is one of the leading voices in Canadian swimming.