After leaving a lengthy trail of historic achievements in 2014, Jamaica’s swimming sensation Alia Atkinson continues to make a big splash in the record books.

The decorated swimmer, who at the start of her career embarked on a mission to place Jamaica on the world map of swimming, has very well accomplished the feat following a number of scintillating performances over the last two years.

The former ‘Y’ Speedos phenomenon had a breakout year in 2014 with a historic gold medal-winning swim at the 12th FINA World Short-Course Championship in Doha, Qatar.

With that performance, Atkinson became the first black woman to win a world swimming title when she swam a scintillating 1:02.36 minutes in the 100-metre breaststroke, equalling the record set by Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte in 2013.

The GraceKennedy Money Services ambassador also envisioned herself agitating for the improvement of the infrastructural support for swimming in Jamaica to take it to the next level.

And that vision was gradually recognised last year when she was named RJR National Sportswoman of the Year and People’s Choice Performance of the year 2014.

The national accolade saw her tracing the strokes of the brilliant swimmers Frances Noble and Belinda Phillips, who won the award in 1968 and 1974, respectively.

But the 27-year-old, dubbed the ‘Darling of the Pool’, was not finished and gravitated toward further success, which came in August last year at the Long Course World Championships in Kazan, Russia.

Atkinson, who qualified for her first Olympic Games at the age of 15 and holds eight Jamaican national swimming records, broke the national record for the 100-metre breaststroke in the semi-final round of the event.

Even though she failed to better the time in the finals, Atkinson achieved yet another historic feat by becoming the first Jamaican swimmer to win a Long Course World championship medal when she finished third behind Russia’s Yuliya Efimova and Meilutyte for bronze.

However, she later returned in the 50-metre equivalent where she improved on her sixth-place semi-final finish to claim silver after narrowly missing the gold when she finished sixth-hundredth of a second behind Sweden’s Jennie Johansson.

Johansson clocked 30.05 seconds to win on the wall, but Atkinson also had a lot to celebrate as her time of 30.11 seconds was another national record. Efimova earned bronze at 30.19 seconds, while Meilutyt, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, finished fourth at 30.20 seconds, as just 0.15secs separated the first five swimmers.

The Texas A&M University swimmer in a post-race interview described her performance as a “confidence booster” having finished ninth in both events at the last two championships on the long course circuit.

With her impressive exploits, Atkinson has once again made the line up of five nominees for the RJR Sports People’s Choice Performance Award which recognises the sporting performance of the year.

And despite being favoured to claim a second successive award, she will have a tough task against the destructive force of Chris Gayle, who slammed a historic double-century against Zimbabwe at the ICC Cricket World Cup; the sensational run by Danielle Williams, who upset the odds to become Jamaica’s youngest sprint hurdles gold medallist; Simon Dawkins last-gasp goal that resuscitated the Reggae Boyz dream of a spot in the World Cup and the Women’s 4x400m relay team’s historic run to win the gold medal at the World Championships.

Atkinson has also made the short list of nominees for the National Sportswoman of the Year Award for a seventh time.

She will be up against track and field’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Sherone Simpson and Shericka Jackson, along with boxer Alicia Ashley vying for the award.

The winners will be named at the Gala Awards, scheduled for Friday, January 15 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.