She won 14 total medals in individual events, 11 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze, from her first three Central American and Caribbean Games, in 2006, 2010, and 2018.

"[4] She has also been vocal about not being related to Janelle Atkinson, who was the first Jamaican swimmer to finish in the top four at an Olympic Games.

[8] She carried the flag for her Jamaica at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she set the Jamaican record in the 100-metre butterfly with a time of 1:02.40.

[3] At the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Atkinson won the silver medal in the 200-metre individual medley.

[7] Following the 2012 Olympics, Atkinson competed in the 2012 World Swimming Championships conducted in short course metres and held in Istanbul, Turkey in December 2012.

[15][16] At the 2014 FINA Swimming World Cup stop in Singapore in November 2014, Atkinson won the short course 200-metre breaststroke, setting a new national record with her time of 2:17.84.

[23] At the 2015 FINA Swimming World Cup stop in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in November 2015, Atkinson swam a personal best time of 1:05.93 in the long course 100-metre breaststroke and set a new national record in the event.

Her swim tied her for the 16th fastest swimmer in the event globally with Rikke Pedersen who was the world record holder in the long course 200-metre breaststroke at the time.

[24] At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she placed eighth in the final of the 100-metre breaststroke, swimming a 1:08.10.

[27] In December 2016 at the 2016 World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada and conducted in short course metres, Atkinson medaled in three individual events.

[31] At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July 2019, Atkinson finished in fourth place with a time of 30.34 in the final of the 50-metre breaststroke.

[35] On 14 July 2021, FINA released its entry list for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan including that Atkinson was entered to compete in the 100-metre breaststroke.

[37] In the preliminaries of the 100-metre breaststroke on Sunday 25 July, Atkinson swam a 1:07.70, finishing third in her heat, and did not advance to the semifinals.

[40] At the end of the 2021 season, Atkinson ranked 17th out of the 488 swimmers who had competed in the International Swimming League since it started in 2019 and earned a positive number of most valuable player points.

[41] Atkinson entered to compete in the 50-metre and 100-metre breaststroke at the 2021 World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

[51] In the final she placed fourth, finishing in a time of 1:04.03 and eleven-hundredths of a second behind bronze medalist Mona McSharry of Ireland.

"[53][54] In mid-2022, Atkinson was elected to serve as the chair for a first-ever FINA athlete committee focused on addressing gender and discipline-balance.