Tyler Butterfield impressed during his long awaited season debut at last weekend’s St Anthony’s Triathlon in St Petersburg, Florida.

The Bermuda triathlete finished the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run sixth overall in 1hr 49min 13 sec.

Butterfield emerged from the water less than 30 seconds behind the leader and put together a solid bike and run to finish among the top ten.

Cameron Dye, of Boulder, Colorado, was the overall winner in 1:4:46 secs.

Butterfield, the multiple Bermuda Male Athlete of the Year award winner, is no stranger to the St Anthony’s Triathlon having competed before as a 21-year-old rookie in 2002 when he finished 49th.

Butterfield’s season had been delayed prior to last weekend due to an illness he picked up in Mexico last November.

He had been laid low after the Ironman Cozumel race where he is believed to have contracted three parasites which ruled him out of January’s Pan American Ironman 70.3 Championships in Panama.

Butterfield, who is based in Boulder, Colorado, is scheduled to compete at the Ironman 70.3 St George’s in Utah on May 7 and it remains to be seen whether he has any intentions of contesting Chris Estwanik’s vacant crown at next month’s Bermuda Day Half Marathon which he has won multiple times.

The professional athlete’s main focus remains the Ironman World Championships in Kona in October, although he has already qualified for the race after finishing fifth last year.

Butterfield is third in the Kona Points Rankings for 2016, courtesy of his seventh-placed finish at the 70.3 Worlds, a spot that was validated by competing in Cozumel.