South Florida Aquatic Club’s Alia Atkinson Makes History On Day Three Of XVI FINA World Aquatic Championships

By Sharon Robb

August 4, 2015—Alia Atkinson enjoyed one of her finest moments in swimming Tuesday at the XVI FINA World Aquatic Championships at Kazan Arena.

The three-time Jamaican Olympian became the first Jamaican swimmer in history to win a long course world championship medal.

Against the best breaststrokers in the world, Atkinson took a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:06.42, just off her new national record of 1:06.21 she set in Monday’s semifinals to earn the third seed and just 0.76 out of first.

Russia’s Yuliya Efimova won the gold medal in 1:05.66 and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte took the silver medal in 1:06.36. Iceland’s Hilda Luthersdottir of Gator Swim Club was sixth in 1:07.10.

Efimova won her first major international gold medal just five months after completing a 16-month suspension for steroids.

Atkinson, the reigning world short course champion and record holder, is the only Jamaican swimmer to win medals in both the long course and short course world championships.

Atkinson had never medaled at a major international long course meet other than the Pan American Games (silver) and Commonwealth Games (bronze).

“It’s been part of the plan since the Short Course World Championships,” said her longtime coach Chris Anderson of South Florida Aquatic Club. “We worked on controlling her emotions and progressing through the rounds from prelims to semifinals and melding in the finals.

“This is a huge step with 367 days left to Rio,” said Anderson, also the Jamaican national coach. “Alia is on the right track.”

Atkinson was all smiles during the medal ceremony and on her way back to the Athletes Village where congratulatory cards and flowers were waiting for her.

“I am very proud of this bronze medal,” Atkinson said. “It’s not easy to go three rounds successfully. But to end off the third with a field full of the best breaststrokers in the world is a step in the right direction.”

In Tuesday’s championships finals:

Teenager Katie Ledecky lowered her own world record in the 1500-meter freestyle to win the gold medal in 15:25.48, less than 24 hours after breaking it in Monday’s qualifier in 15:27.71.

Ledecky built a 14.66-second cushion ahead of silver medalist Lauren Boyle of New Zealand in 15:50.15. Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took the bronze in 15:47.09.

Ledecky’s world record is 24 seconds faster than the men’s qualifying time of 15:49.99 for the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials.

Twenty-nine minutes later, Ledecky returned to the pool for the 200-meter freestyle semifinal which she finished third in her heat in 1:56.76. Her last 50-meter split was 30.25 enabling her to qualify sixth and make Wednesday’s final. Missy Franklin was top qualifier.

“It was a little nerve wracking being behind quite a few of those girls,” Ledecky said. “I just knew I had to finish hard and get my hand on the wall. I knew I could get my hand on the wall before a couple of those girls in my heat. My legs felt better than my arms so I knew I had to kick.

“That was a lot harder than I was hoping it would be,” Ledecky said. “I only have 2,000 meters left of racing this week.”

In the biggest shock of the day, Missy Franklin finished fifth in the 100-meter backstroke in 59.40. She was 1.14 seconds behind Aussie Emily Seebohm, winning her first individual world title in her fifth Worlds appearance in 58.26.

Franklin had a disastrous start and was in last place at the turn. Down the stretch she was unable to catch silver medalist Madison Wilson of Australia in 58.75 and bronze medalist Mie Oe Nielsen of Denmark in 58.86.

The U.S. has won only four medals in three days in Kazan with five days remaining. It is the lowest medal total at an Olympics or World Championships in the last 50 years dating back to the 1994 World Championships where the U.S. took home 21 medals.

Wednesday’s women’s events are 50-meter backstroke heats and semifinals; 200-meter butterfly heats and semifinal; mixed medley 4×100 relay heats and final; and 200-meter freestyle final.

Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com

http://www.swim4soflo.com

SOFLO’s Valentina Artemeva Takes Bronze, Qualifies For World Championships At Russian Nationals

By Sharon Robb

April 20, 2015—After a few encouraging words from her coach Chris Anderson, South Florida Aquatic Club’s Valentina Artemeva qualified for the July 24-Aug. 9 World Aquatic Championships in Kazan, Russia on the opening day of the Russian National Swimming Championships in Moscow.

Artemeva, 28, of Novosibirsk Region, took the bronze medal in the 50-meter breaststroke, the first of her three events, after finishing third in 31.31.

The sprint race was a tune-up for her remaining two events, the 200-meter breaststroke and 100-meter breaststroke, her signature event.

Yuliya Efimova of the Tyimen Region, coming off her drug doping suspension, won the gold in 30.39. Efimova started the meet with the world best in 30.70 in prelims. She bettered her time in semifinals in 30.41 and finished with her third world best of the day in 30.39. It was her first national title since the suspension.

Victoria Zeinel Gunes of Turkey took the silver in 31.24. With that time, Efimova is now ranked No. 1 in the world in both the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke.

Artemeva, who has been training with SOFLO’s pro team including three-time Jamaican Olympian and breaststroke world record holder Alia Atkinson and Bermuda national champion Lisa Blackburn, is the current European champion in the 50- and 100-meter breaststroke (short course).

She is also world record holder in fin swimming and former world champion in the 200-meter surface finswimming and bronze medalist in the 100-meter surface finswimming.

Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com

http://www.swim4soflo.com

SOFLO’s Lisa Blackburn Ready For One More Olympic Run; Competes In Canada Team Trials That Begin Wednesday

By Sharon Robb

March 31, 2015—The best is yet to come.

With that kind of renewed enthusiasm for competitive swimming, Lisa Blackburn is taking another run at the Olympics.

With her competitive fires still burning at 43, the Bermuda national champion quit her corporate job and started training with the South Florida Aquatic Club twelve weeks ago.

Buoyed by training with a small group of elite pros at SOFLO that includes world record holder and three-time Jamaican Olympian Alia Atkinson, Russian European champion Valentina Artemeva and two-time Colombian Olympian Carolina Colorado, Blackburn is motivated to swim fast at the four-day Canada Team Trials that begin Wednesday in Toronto, site of the Pan American Games which she is trying to qualify for.

Blackburn is seeded 29th in the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:12.86; 48th in the 50-meter breaststroke (32.88) and 63rd in the 50-meter freestyle (27.69).

The meet features 572 Canadian athletes from 138 clubs, competing for spots on the Canadian national team for the Pan American Games, World Championships, FINA World Junior Championships and World University Games.

The field also includes 200 foreign entries from Bermuda, United States, Puerto Rico, Denmark, Aruba, Ireland, Finland and Sweden.

All eight sessions of the meet will be webcast live at http://www.swimming.ca. Prelims are 10 a.m. and finals 6 p.m. at the Pan Am Sport Centre.

Blackburn is trying to qualify for the July 10-26 Pan American Games for Bermuda.

The women’s breaststroke field features Breeja Larson, Kierra Smith, Martha McCabe, Tera Van Beilen, Ashley McGregor and Fiona Doyle.

“I want to swim fast,” Blackburn said. “I have specific times in mind but I want to keep those numbers to myself. I want to go faster than 1:12 which I did at the Grand Prix in Orlando. I am looking forward to the racing competition and checking out the Pan Am Games pool.”

Blackburn holds five Bermuda individual national long course records (50, 100 and 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley) and three relay records. She is also a masters world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke (40-44).

She made her first Olympic Trials in 1988 and just missed the 2012 London Games by 0.03 seconds.

“I am really happy with where I am,” Blackburn said. “It’s great to be in Florida with Chris Anderson and my teammates. It’s been great training with Alia and the other pro swimmers.

“I have only been in Florida for twelve weeks but I feel a lot stronger, fitter, faster and more confident,” Blackburn said. “I am really excited where I am with my swimming and personal life.”

Blackburn stopped swimming twice in her 30-year swimming career.

“I stopped the first time because I was kind of too old,” Blackburn said. “I finished university at 22 and it was just unheard of to continue to swim post-grad. Back then nobody continued after university. They got a career and had a family. That’s what you did.”

Blackburn started coaching kids during her time away from competing.

“I found I really missed it,” she said. “Coaching brought me back to the sport at that time. The feedback and opportunity to coach and teach kids all the things I learned made me think to apply this stuff to my own swimming. I got back in the water and again started competing a few more years down the road.”

Blackburn stopped a second time in 2004 when she was 32. She moved to Australia to start a new chapter in her life.

“I was just frustrated at the time,” Blackburn said. “I hadn’t met some expectations I put on myself and went off to Australia. But the swim bug bit me again. I swam with some exceptional swimmers at the University of Sydney and it was great. I loved it and I just stayed with it.”

Age is just a number now for Blackburn.

“Nowadays, it’s more accepted and people understand why someone would continue to pursue sport and dream. I have a few sponsors who have been really, really great supporting and encouraging me.

“I worked in a corporate environment, but it just wasn’t for me. In swimming, I’m passionate and enjoy what I’m doing. It’s a lifestyle I enjoy. I want to make other people excited about pursuing their dream whether it’s sport or the arts. Whatever your dream is it doesn’t matter how old you are. You get excited and you push yourself to attain it.

“I enjoy pushing myself and striving for goals. The Olympics continue to elude me. I want to give it one more shot. I am really excited where I am training and who I am training with.”

She is also passionate about her home country.

“I love the fact that I am representing my country,” Blackburn said. “It’s such an honor to put a small, 20-mile island that we call home on the international map.”

Blackburn retired from her full-time job in September.

“Swimming is my full-time job now, however I am not getting paid,” Blackburn said. “Nowadays to compete at the international and pro level you have to make a 100 percent commitment to training and recovery especially as I get a bit older.

“I wanted to see how good I could really be. It’s important at this stage of my life to know that this is what I want to do. I didn’t want to have any regrets at the end of the day. It’s special to me and I can learn from what I am doing and hopefully motivate other people to pursue their dreams as well.”

Five-time Olympian and 12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres has been an inspiration for Blackburn. At 41, she was the oldest swimmer to make an Olympic team (2008) and following reconstructive knee surgery made another run at the 2012 Olympics but placed fourth at the Trials in her signature 50-meter freestyle event.

“Dara has been a role model for me,” Blackburn said. “She laid the groundwork. We might be in our 20s, 30s, or 40s, but we are not dead. We are here.

“Life is about doing things that make you happy and this is what makes me happy and excited about life.”

Anderson said it was Blackburn’s enthusiasm and willingness to work that led him to coaching her.

“That’s exactly why at this time in her life she is 100 percent committed to training and doing the right things to be successful,” Anderson said.

“She has been consistent for the first time in a long time. She has a base where she can rest and taper from, whereas before it was race, race, race all the time.”

SOFLO, the most successful age group program in the Florida Gold Coast for the last five years, added a new dimension with five new pros joining Atkinson.

“The theme of the entire pro team is to train and act younger,” Anderson said. “The key to their success is to be more open-minded and do the necessary work it takes to be successful. That whole group is extremely dynamic and entertaining and Lisa is one of the leaders of that group.”

Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com