KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s champion swimmer Alia Atkinson missed out on a spot in the women’s 100-metre breaststroke despite placing third in her heat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games this morning.

Atkinson got a pretty decent start from lane six in Heat three and gathered momentum to the wall in the first 50 metres, but seemingly lacked stamina of her younger rivals at the backend of the race and came home in 1:07.07 minutes in the end.

The 32-year-old, who was making her fifth Olympic appearance and holds the world short-course record of 1:02.36 in the event, was at least expected to make the semi-final, but it was not to be.

Her time was not fast enough to make the top 16, thereby extending her wait for an elusive medal at the global multi-sport showpiece.

To be fair, fitness was always expected to be a factor for the Jamaican ‘darling of the pool’, especially with the effect the pandemic would have had on her training and competition and it turns out she didn’t have the form to figure on the big stage.

Atkinson’s best placing at an Olympic Games remains her fourth-place finish in London 2012, when she became the second Jamaican athlete to place in the top four in a swimming event at an Olympic Games, behind Janelle Atkinson (no relation), who was fourth in the 400m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Games.