2018 CAC Games Day 1: Atkinson Turns In World-Class Time

2018 CENTRAL AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN (CAC) GAMES

• Thursday, July 19th – Friday, August 3rd
• Barranquilla, Colombia
• Meet Site
• Entry Lists (men)
• Entry Lists (women)
• Live Results

Night 1 of the 2018 CAC Games in Barranquilla brought a mixed bag of medalists, all representing several different nations to scatter tallies across the medal table. Venezuela, Mexico, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago and host nation Colombia all got on the board to kick off the 8-day aquatic competition.

Notable performances included a world-class 100m breaststroke outing by Jamaican Alia Atkinson. After watching her own Games Record of 1:08.00 from 2010 bite the dust, courtesy of Mexico’s Byanca Rodriguez Villanuev’s morning effort of 1:07.99, world champion Atkinson busted out a gold medal-garnering effort of 1:06.83 for the win in the evening.

Firing off a super quick opening 50 of 30.85, 29-year-old Atkinson closed in 35.98 to give her the only time under the 1:07-threshold.  Villanuev wound up settling for silver in 1:07.80, but notched a new Mexican national record in doing so. Teammate Esther Gonzalez rounded out the top 3 in the women’s breaststroke, touching in 1:10.60 for bronze.

Atkinson’s time puts her on the list of the top 11 swimmers in the world this season and lays waste to her disappointing time of 1:09.83 notched at the Commonwealth Games that shut the Florida-based swimmer out of the final.

Former USC standout Dylan Carter produced the winning effort in the men’s 100m freestyle, stopping the clock in 48.95 to represent the only swimmer to venture beneath the 49-second barrier. Carter’s outing checks in as a new Games Record, overtaking the old mark of 49.00 set by Hanser Garcia in 2014. Carter’s personal best rests at the 48.60 he threw down on the Gold Coast at this year’s Commonwealth Games, a mark which resulted in 5th place ther.

Aruba’s Mikel Schreuders took silver behind Carter in a mark of 49.17, while Mexico earned another piece of hardware thanks to Jorge Iga Cesar notching 49.28 for 3rd.

Bahamian Joanna Evans, who competes for the University of Texas stateside, topped the women’s 400m freestyle in a new Games Record effort of 4:11.15. That’s well-off her own national record of 4:07.60 established at the 2016 Olympic Games, but it was enough to hold off runner-up Allyson Macias of Mexico. Macias touched in 4:14.74 for silver, while Costa Rican Helena Moreno Hernandez earned bronze in 4:15.51.

Additional Winners:

• Mexico took the mixed 4x100m medley relay to kick-off the session, clocking 3:49.61 for the gold.
• Colombian Jonathan Gomez fired off a new Games Record time of 1:57.03 to win the men’s 200m fly, less than a second off his personal best of 1:56.60 from last year’s World Championships.
• Isabella Arcila, also from Colombia, notched a Games Record of her own in the form of a 50m backstroke time of 28.11. That overtook her own GR of 28.16 set in the morning and also now checks-in as a Colombian national record.
• Venezuela turned it on to take the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, clocking 7:24.18 for the gold in a new Games Record time.