Tyler Smith finished nineteenth out of 33 competitors in the men’s triathlon at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, early this morning.

Twenty-four hours earlier, the Island’s other triathlete, Erica Hawley, opened Bermuda’s participation at the Games by finishing 29th out of 32.

Smith was 24th out of the water from the 750-metre swim with a time of 9min 48sec. He then completed the 20-kilometre bike in 29:32 and the 5km run in 17:43 for an overall time of 58:11, almost four minutes behind the winner, Ben Dijkstra, of Great Britain.

Hawley completed her race over the same distance in 1:08:14 to cross the line a little more than eight minutes behind the winner.

The young Bermudian was out of the water 21st in 10:43, but a crash on the first lap of the bike segment made certain that she would be battling for the lesser spots.

She soldiered on to complete the bike course in 34:35 before producing a personal best on the run with an effort of 21:37.

The gold medal was scooped by Brittany Dutton, of Australia, who with a time of 59:56 was the only woman to finish inside an hour. Second place went to Stephanie Jenks, of the United States, in 1:00:33, with Emilie Morier, of France, third in 1:00:55.

Karen Smith, the Bermuda triathlon team manager, was impressed by Hawley’s performance, especially after misfortune on the bike that might have taken the steam out of a less gutsy competitor.

“The roads were wet and slippery and her back wheel gave way, causing her to go down,” Smith said.

“There were several other crashes as well on this technical course, but Erica got right back on the bike and worked with another pack of riders. She then ran well off the bike and finished very strong.”

Smith added that Hawley suffered road rash from her fall but expects her to be fit for the relay on Thursday, when she will be paired in a team of mixed nationalities.

“Obviously, she is disappointed about the crash but realises that it is also part of the sport,” Smith said.

Jesse Washington won his heat in the boys 100 metres butterfly in 59.03sec.

Cecilia Wollmann’s opening race in the Byte CII regatta was delayed late last night.