Atkinson

LONDON, England:

Alia Atkinson enters today's 100m breaststroke final with renewed confidence, more assured of her own abilities and desperate to create history.

There has never been a Jamaican swimming medalist at an Olympic Games, with Janelle Atkinson coming closest in 2000, with a fourth-place finish in the 400m freestyle.

Atkinson, yesterday kept her nerves and made some adjustments to better Canadian Tera Van Beilen in a 100m breaststroke semi-final swim-off inside the Aquatics Centre in London's Olympic Park, to book her spot in today's final in national record style. She led from start to finish, securing her spot in assured fashion.

Atkinson, 23, and Van Beilen, 19, tied for fourth in their semi-final one hour and 40 minutes earlier and had to face-off against each other after the final event last night to determine who would get a lane in the 8:15pm (2:15pm Jamaica time) final.

The Jamaican posted a national record 1:06.79 while Van Beilen touched the wall in 1:07.73.

Earlier, Atkinson set her first national record for the day with a 1:07.39 effort to win her heat before tying with Van Beilen, with 1:07.48 in the semi-final.

Atkinson, who led after 30m, and was the third at the turn before fading at the end, pointed to her strategy in the semi-final as a factor behind her performance and explained that she will be looking to take the adjustments she made for the swim-off into the finals.

"I am much more confident going into the finals, I think if I didn't make that swim-off then I would be thinking to myself that I can only do a one minute seven seconds time or with the knowledge that I had to sprint the race, because for the semi-final, I sprinted and died at the end and for (the swim-off) I controlled it more," said Atkinson.

"So I have more knowledge for tomorrow (today) and I learned that I just need to just relax."

"I can't swim it (final) like I did in the semi-final race because I would have a hard time coming back to the wall. That (swim-off) was much more relaxed and controlled, so I have to remember not to get too excited coming out," Atkinson said.

"Going into the (semi-final) I had the mindset that I had nothing to lose, I had never reached this far before and would just keep on going but this one (swim-off), I went in with the mindset that "listen Alia, you are already here and you can make it." Atkinson said. "My main goal was to make the final and I just told myself that she (Van Beilen) was not going to stop me."

Van Beilen lauded the Jamaican and wished her well in the final.

"I gave it everything that I had in the pool, I feel blessed for the opportunity even though it was not how I wanted it to turn out," said Van Beilen. "I have swam with her (Atkinson) before, she is a great racer and it was fun to just have two of us in the pool, I wish her best of luck in the final."