in Stuttgart, Germany, came to a crashing halt yesterday when the Bermudian finished eighth in the triple jump final, despite one of his better leaps of 17.12 metres (56-13 ).

American Mike Conley, the Olympic champion, won the gold medal with a 17.86 metre (58-31 ) effort, the longest of the year and only 11 centimetres shy of the world record.

Leonid Voloshin of Russia took the silver on 17.65 (57-23 ) with Briton Jonathan Edwards grabbing bronze with a jump of 17.44 (57-21 ).

Wellman was eighth out of 13 competitors in the final and finishing ahead of him were Ralf Jaros of Germany (17.34, 56-13 ), Pierre Camara of France (17.28, 56-11 ), Denis Dapustin of Russia (17.19, 56-11 ) and Anisio Silva of Brazil (17.19, 56-11 ) Finishing ninth to 13th were Serge Helan of France, Kenny Harrison of the US, Jerome Romain of Dominica, Yoelvis Quesada of Cuba and Oleg Denishchik of Belarus.

Wellman was Bermuda's last hope for a medal after Troy Douglas was eliminated after the second round of the 400 metres event on Sunday. Full report on page 21 HIGH HOPES -- Bermuda's Brian Wellman leaps through the air during the triple jump at Stuttgart yesterday.