WATCH: Alia Atkinson Tie 100 SCM Breast World Record in Chartres

2016 FINA WORLD CUP: CHARTRES-PARIS

Kicking off the season at the 2016 FINA World Cup stop in Chartres, Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson swam the women’s 100 breaststroke in World Record fashion. Atkinson’s winning time of 1:02.36 tied the World Record, which she already shared with Lithuania’s 2012 Olympic Champion Ruta Meilutyte.

Meilutyte initially set the World Record in this race at 1:02.36 in 2013 at the FINA World Cup stop in Moscow, before Atkinson went on to match the time at the 2014 FINA World Cup stop in Doha.

In Chartres, Atkinson opened the race with a 29.33 split at the 50, which is faster than the front half of either of the aforementioned swims. However, she was just over a tenth slower on the 2nd half, closing in 33.03 to tie the record.

Splits Comparison:

Swimmer 1st 50 2nd 50 Time
Atkinson 2016 29.33 33.03 1:02.36
Atkinson 2014 29.46 32.90 1:02.36
Meilutyte 2013 29.56 32.80 1:02.36

Unfortunately for Atkinson, FINA doesn’t award the $10,000 World Record bonus when swimmers tie the record. She did, however, get $1,500 for winning the race. Her time put her over a second ahead of the field, as the USA’s Katie Meili (1:03.52) and Russia’s Yuliya Efimova (1:04.14) rounded out the top 3.

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CoachD
7 years ago

I wish I could watch the whole race. These videos are terrible.

Sergey v
Reply to  CoachD
7 years ago

I agree!
The video producer/editor/uploader that FINA contracted must hate swimming.

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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