Swimmer Alia Atkinson was named the National Sports Woman of the year while the Commonwealth champion  and  IAAF Continental  Cup  winner  discus thrower Frederick Dacres won the men’s equivalent.

Both athletes won the respective awards at the RJR/Gleaner Sports Foundation national  sportsman and  sportswoman  of  the  year  award  ceremony  at  the  Jamaica  Pegasus  hotel last night.

Atkinson who had a stellar 2018 also walked with the gleaner iconic award……. was winning the national award for the second straight year and three times overall.

She also won the people’s choice “performance of the year,” for her  new 50-metre breaststroke world short course record swim of 28.56 seconds, at the FINA Swimming World Cup meet in Budapest, Hungary on October 6.

Shot-putter Daniel Thomas- Dodd and triple-jumper Kimberly Williams finished in a tie for runner-up to the sportswoman of the year.

Among the highlights for Atkinson in 2018 was winning Jamaica’s first medal at the commonwealth games on the gold coast in Australia with a silver in the 50m breaststroke on April 6.

Then at the 23rd Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games at the Eduardo Movilla aquatic complex in Colombia, Atkinson won three gold medals. She ended the year in magnificent form where she won three gold and two silver medals at the FINA Swimming World Cup.

Meanwhile Dacres performances included winning gold at the NACAC Senior Championships in Toronto on august 12. He improved the championship record by more than five metres with his opening throw of 65.89m. He improved to 67.39m in the second round and ended with 68.47m, his fifth best effort ever.