grabbing his fourth consecutive first place finish yesterday.

On a remarkable pace since the new year, Bermuda's reigning Athlete of the Year led all triple jumpers at the Sparkassen Cup indoor athletics meet in Stuttgart, Germany.

Wellman jumped 17.05 metres (55 feet and one-and-a-quarter inches), a record for the Stuttgart meet, to finish first ahead of Francis Agyepong of England (16.29, 53-51 ) and Serge Helan of France (16.27, 53-41 ).

The winning jump was Wellman's first of the year under 56 feet, and he was hoping to go beyond that mark for every indoor event of 1995.

Wellman was coming off a personal best last week in Grenoble where he jumped 17.47 (57-33 ). In his first two meets of the year he recorded leaps of 17.18 (56-41 ) in Arkansas and 17.07 (56 feet) in Moscow.

"I feel pretty good, but I didn't do what I needed to do,'' said Wellman last night in a telephone interview from Stuttgart.

"I broke my streak...I wanted to jump over 56 feet all my indoor meets.

But I had an equipment problem, I broke one of the heel cups on my right shoe in practice last week.'' Later he added: "I guess after you jump 17.47 today was a little bit of a letdown. But it's cool, I won by a considerable margin. I'm trying to maintain my focus and not get so caught up in what I've done, but what I still need to do.'' Wellman, who said last week he would not compete at the Pan American Games in Argentina if a long-simmering dispute over funding is not settled, will take part in a track meet in Berlin on Friday before returning to Bermuda. He plans to meet with Sports Minister Pam Gordon to discuss his funding needs before returning to Europe to participate in meets in France, England, Sweden and then the Indoor World championships.

"My goal is to win and attempt to break the world record,'' said Wellman.

"If I do that I won't be in too bad shape to jump far at Pan Ams, if I go.'' BRIAN WELLMAN -- unbeaten in 1995