Veteran Bermuda swimmer Chris Smith placed fourth in his first final at the FINA World Masters Championships in Perth, Australia on Saturday, competing in the 800 metres freestyle.

Smith, who has a home in Canada and is representing an Ontario team, set a new Canadian record with his time of 13 minutes, 48.78 seconds.

He went into the event ranked sixth out of the 18 75-79 year-olds who had qualified for the event, including strong contingents from Japan, Australia, North America and Europe.

Smith finished behind Olympian Graham Johnston, from Texas who holds the world record in the event, Igor Brovin of Russia and Josef Krejci of Switzerland.

Krejci, the European record holder in the event, led the field from the first 100 metres on his way to taking the gold medal.

It's believed there are over 45,000 Masters swimmers in the USA, 9,000 in Canada and 7,000 in Australia, with only about 30 percent of those competing and just a small fraction qualifying for the Age Group World Championships.

Over 4,700 swimmers are currently competing in Perth, the oldest taking part in the 90 to 94 age group.