SITTING almost atop the world in the short course 50m and 100m breaststrokes, Alia Atkinson hungers for more glory.

And winning two silver medals at the 11th FINA World Swimming (Short Course) Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, last week has only whetted her appetite for more.

“I was going into the championships with the sole purpose to do something no Jamaican swimmer has done before,” said 24-year-old Atkinson, a three-time Olympian.

“To be the first to win a medal meant that I had to push myself beyond just the fourth at the Olympics and now I can say ‘silver world medallist as well’,” added the Immaculate Conception High past student.

Buoyed by a fourth-place finish in the 100m breaststroke final at last Summer’s London Olympic Games, Atkinson has grown in confidence.

Her coach Christopher Anderson set the bar high in Istanbul, instilling in her the belief that she could even break the world record.

He was sure that Atkinson would have won medals, becoming the first Jamaican to do so, but Anderson was not sure of the number of silverware the Jamaican swimming ace would be returning home with.

Atkinson believed, too, if only she could keep it together on race day.

“I made a lot of mistakes. The dive was too shallow. I couldn’t get into the stroke quick enough for the 50 breast, and in the 100 IM my arms started cramping up and I couldn’t go any faster, and thus fourth.

“The 100 breast is probably where it all came together, a silver, but I swam the race how I envisioned it; increasing on the third 25 and pushing it on the fourth.

“I swam the race with no regrets, so that was my best race for the meet,” explained Atkinson.

Despite not getting into the “stroke quick enough” Atkinson — born at Roehampton Road, Kingston 19 before attending Vaz Prep — was also a silver medallist in the 50m breaststroke, her first event of the championships.

She clocked personal bests and national records in all four events of the five-day meet. Her times in the 50m and 100m breaststrokes were number five and six of all time while in the 100 individual medley she was number 13 of all time.

With Atkinson competing until the next Olympic Games, does she believe that she can be number one in any of her events, or even break a world record?

“I am not going to give up. I can get faster and more determined than ever. I have made significant improvements since the last Worlds in Dubai.

“I know I can move up and it will take more discipline and work but the reward is worth it,” she pointed out.