Atkinson at last year's Olympic Games. - FileGAINESVILLE, Florida, CANA:
CARIBBEAN Olympic swimming finalists Janelle Atkinson and Leah Martindale are showing impressive form ahead of next weekend's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships.
Their coach at the University of Florida, Greg Troy, expects good results after Jamaica's Atkinson won twice and Martindale of Barbados, had two second place finishes at the South East Conference meet in Alabama two weekends ago.
The 18-year-old Atkinson, fourth in the 400-metre freestyle final at the Sydney Olympics last year, won the 500 and 1650-yard events.
And Martindale, who was fifth in the 50m freestyle at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, secured runner-up spots in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events.
Atkinson, also a triple silver-medallist at the 1999 Pan American Games in Canada, swam four minutes 43.38 to land the 500-yard freestyle, before dominating her field in a fast time.
Atkinson was timed at 16 minutes 04.42 seconds, the second fastest collegiate time of the year, and finished a long way clear of Georgia's Julie Hardt (16:13.85) and Auburn's Nagda Dyszkiewicz (16:14.20).
"Janelle's 500 and 1650 were outstanding. She is not fully prepared for the competition, we did not shave her and she will step up and be a lot better in next week's competition," Troy said yesterday.
The NCAA championship starts on March 15 in Long Island at the Goodwill Games Pool.
