1500 metres on the opening day on Saturday in Martinique, while Patrina Swan narrowly missed qualifying for the final in the under 20 400 metres.

Whitter, 13, shaved a creditable 24 seconds off her previous best 1500 metres time of 5:48 when she ran a 5:24.88 in the final to place in the top eight.

Swan clocked a time of 60.90 seconds in the 400 metres semi-final which left her an agonizing .63 of a second outside of qualifying for the final.

Richard Walcott placed sixth in the under-17 boys 1500 metres final in a time of 4:25.80 which is a season best for him.

The fourth member of the Bermuda team, Gabriel Wilkinson, failed to reach the final of the under-20 discus following his throw of 35.82 metres on Saturday.

He was the only local scheduled to see action yesterday when he competed in the shot. His result was not known last night.

Whitter, Swan and Walcott are all scheduled to run in the 800 metres today on the final day of the three-day meet.

BTFA president Judy Simmons stressed that the performances of the athletes were impressive, considering the National Stadium was closed for eight months for the relaying of a new track and hampered the team's buildup to the Games.

"Also, we didn't have very good weather when the track did open for us,'' said Simmons last night.

"When we did go on the track on February 21 it was a difficult transition from being on grass since June of last year and having to adjust to a synthetic track.

"And because of the weather we only had very few meets for them to qualify.

We felt the team that we chose, although three of them hadn't qualified, would do well as they have done so far.'' Simmons stressed that winning a medal isn't the main priority for the team, but that it was more important that the athletes learn from the experience.

"This is a developmental meet, the lowest rung of the international festivals that we send our athletes to, and we're giving them a lot of exposure and helping in their future development,'' she stressed.

"There is too much pressure put on the young people to say that whenever they go out they should come back with a medal.''