him of a bronze medal at the world indoor athletics championships in Toronto on Saturday night.

After leading midway through the six-round triple jump final with an indoor personal best 17.27 metres (56 feet, eight inches), Wellman and a bemused audience watched as Latvian Maris Bruziks was credited with a jump of 17.36 (56-111 ) when his foot had clearly breached the take-off board.

Then gold medallist Pierre Camara uncorked the fourth best indoor jump in history, 57-81 , and Bulgarian Nikolay Raev equalled Wellman's attempt and was awarded the bronze because his second-best jump was longer than Wellman's.

Bermuda manager Brian Dowling lodged an unsuccessful protest of Bruzik's jump.

"It was clearly a no-jump and they gave it to him,'' said Dowling yesterday.

"A lot of folks sitting on the side saw the Latvian's foot go over the board and leave a mark. He even laughed when the official called it a good jump and quickly wiped the mark off the board.'' The triple jump final was a tale of two meets as Wellman's third jump took him to the lead. But on the fourth, he noticed some give in the track during his step phase and complained to officials.

That prompted a 45-minute delay as that area of the track was resurfaced. Upon resumption all the jumpers seemed to be travelling farther with Camara producing his spectacular effort in the sixth and final round.

"Unfortunately for Bermuda, Brian was in the medals right up until the last round. Until then no one had gone much past 17 metres,'' added Dowling, who returned home early to avoid a rush brought on by the inclement weather along the eastern seaboard.

"There were a lot of complaints about the level of officiating. More than 20 protests by different countries were lodged. We expected better officiating at a meet of this stature.'' Dowling added he made an attempt to have Bruziks' jump reviewed but organisers claimed that he had to wait until the championships were over because only one video machine was available.

Wellman's jump sequence and progressive standing was 16.55 (2), foul (3), 17.27 (1), foul (3), 16.87 (4) and foul (4).

Despite the disappointment of finishing out of the medals, Wellman can take solace in achieving the Island's highest placing ever at a world meet.

High jumper Clarance (Nicky) Saunders was fifth at the Seoul Olympics and Wellman himself was fifth at the Barcelona version this past summer.

Wellman's next major championships will be the world outdoors in Stuttgart, Germany in August with the Commonwealth Games to follow next year in Victoria, British Columbia.

Bermuda's other competitor at the world indoors, which ended last night, was sprinter Troy Douglas. He ran in the 400 metres on Friday night and failed to qualify for the semifinals after placing fourth in his heat in 47.55 seconds.

MIXED FORTUNES -- Troy Douglas, went out in the first round of the 400 metres last night, while at right, Brian Wellman is in position to become Bermuda's first world athletics champion. He led all qualifiers into tonight's triple jump final.

PIERRE CAMARA -- Fourth-best indoor jump ever of 57-81 for gold medal.

BRIAN WELLMAN -- The Bermudian recorded a personal best jump on 56-8 on Saturday night but had to settle for fourth after a controversial no-call by a pit judge allowed silver medallist Maris Bruziks' fifth attempt to stand.