SANTO DOMINGO -- Having broken the national record in the morning and, in so doing, qualified for next year's Olympics, it was perhaps too much to expect Kiera Aitken to surpass that in the final of the women's 100-metre backstroke at the Pan Am Games last night.

Aitken had cruised into the showpiece round at the Olympic Stadium's open air aquatics arena in Santo Domingo, surprising even herself with her speed through the water.

Swimming in heat one yesterday morning, she finished third in a time of 1:04.98, a Bermuda record and well inside her Games qualifying time of 1:06.71.

It was a slightly different story in the final. Swimming in lane two, she touched home in a highly respectable 1:06.03, sixth out of the eight competitors.

Aitken had qualified fifth overall out of three heats.

“I'm surprised, I didn't really expect to go that fast,” she had said afterwards. “It's a personal best by a little over a second and a national record.”

She said she felt confident going into a heat in which she was never ranked lower than her finishing position.

“I think I was really mentally prepared and I just tried to get myself up for it,” she said. “I felt good because I usually take the first half out kind of slow and this time I tried to get out pretty fast and I think it worked for me.”

However, the effort clearly took its toll on the swimmer last night. Swimming in lane two, she seemed slightly pensive as she headed out to the pool.

But as soon as the horn sounded, she settled into her stroke and headed for the 50-metre mark. She made the turn in 32.14 seconds, seventh overall, with just Paula Ribeiro of Brazil behind her.

Either because she picked up the pace or sixth placed Brazilian Talita Ribeiro lost some of hers, Aitken moved into sixth and, though looking perilously close to the lane markers as she made her way down the finishing straight, she touched home a little under four seconds behind winner Diana MacManus of the USA who took gold in 1:02.50.

“I had hoped to do better than my time this morning,” Aitken said as she caught her breath, the heat still oppressive despite the time being 8.15 p.m (9.15 p.m Bermuda time). “But I think I just let myself relax.

“I was kind of feeling like whatever I did tonight wouldn"t really matter because I had already done what I had wanted to do.”

Aitken said she had opted to adopt the same plan as the morning, but unfortunately there was not enough gas in the tank.

“I think I went a little slower because I wasn't so prepared for it,” she said. “I kind of wimped out at the beginning.

“But I was happy just to be in the final at a big meet like this. It's really exciting and I'm proud of myself.”

For the record, the silver medal went to Courtney Shealy of the USA in 1:02.74 and bronze to Gisela Maria Morales of Guatemala in 1:04.56.

Meanwhile, Ronald Cowen said yesterday he intended to use his Pan-Am Games experience as “a cattle prod” as he attempts to qualify for next year's Olympics.

The Bermudian swimmer had a disappointing time in the pool at Santo Domingo's Olympic Stadium, failing to qualify for the final in both of the disciplines he entered.

Cowen came in 12th overall in the men's 200 metres freestyle on Monday and yesterday finished 27th overall in the 100 metres equivalent.

He was seventh in his heat in a time of 53.07 seconds.

“I can use this as a cattle prod,” he said afterwards, cooling down from the searing temperatures around the outdoor arena. “The idea was that if I didn't qualify here I go up to the US Open or somewhere like that and qualify.”

“Some days you win, some days you lose” was Cowen's assessment of his performance.

“I just happened to be just a little bit outside of what I would like to be,” he said. “It's hard to tell what the difference is. I haven't done a whole lot different last year to this year - could be the heat, could be the pool, a lot of things. “I swam well, that's all that counts. It's always a given (that I give it everything I have), whether I get the results I want is a little different.”

Cowen said he needed to go back, sit down and analyse where he could improve on his times.

“I have to sit down with my coach and evaluate this year and last year,” he said. “See what we did and what we didn't do.

“I think I have levelled off a little too much. I would have liked to have got a little more long course training in, but due to circumstances I wasn't able to do that.”

There was drama at the end of the morning's backstroke heats when Maria Gabrielle Costanza of Paraguay collapsed in the pool at the end of the race and had to be rushed to hospital.

A quick thinking member of the Comision Nacional de Emergencia jumped into the water and, aided by others around the poolside, helped lay her on the ground.

Convulsing and in obvious distress she was strapped to a stretcher and rushed to a waiting ambulance in a matter of seconds.

Speaking shortly afterwards a senior member of the Paraguayan delegation said that she had suffered an asthma attack.