This may have been her debut in international competition but diver Katura Horton-Perinchief certainly didn't look out of her depth as the Commonwealth Games opened yesterday.

Although she failed to make the final of the one metre event, not her strongest discipline, she put in a performance full of grace and maturity at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Her fourth place finish in the first semi-final group meant she missed out on the final by one spot, but with further events still to come she has the opportunity to build on her performance.

The 19-year-old, who lives and trains in Texas, admitted to having butterflies in her stomach prior to the preliminaries. But they disappeared as soon as she stepped foot on the platform.

Looking assured and calm she made five dives in the first round and won praise from the event commentator and manager of the English diving team, Julian Bellan, for her poise and grace.

She was up against some stiff competition with the current one metre world champion Blythe Hartley and triple Olympian Irina Lashko of Australia among the field of ten entrants.

Fourth to dive, and being watched by relatives including Sports Minister Randy Horton, Horton-Perinchief opted to perform an inward one and a half somersault with pike as her opener.

"She will be well pleased with that dive," the commentator said as the judges awarded her a score of 50.40, which after three previous competitors saw her in second place.

By the end of that round she was joint sixth with Liesl Ischia of Australia, while Emilie Heymans of Canada and Lashko were joint first.

Horton-Perinchief went for the slightly easier forward two and a half somersault with tuck in round two, achieving a score of 39.60 - enough to hang on to sixth.

Her backward one and a half somersault piked for the third dive saw her cause some splash with her entry and that coupled with performances of her rivals meant she slipped to eighth after being awarded 41.40 for a total of 131.40. With her penultimate offering, Horton-Perinchief executed a reverse one and half somersault. But she was a hair short on entry and the judges gave her 39.60.

Needing a score of 58.11 to take second at the end of her fifth dive, the teenager performed a forward one and half somersault with one twist from the free position, a dive that holds a 2.2 difficulty rating. Judges gave her 40.26 for a grand total of 211.26.

That kept her in eighth position with Sarah Soo of England behind on 191.91 and Melanie Rinaldi of Canada in front on 224.76. Lashko led the competition with a total of 290.31.

The girls then had a two hour wait before the semi-final with Horton-Perinchief saying she intended to "relax in the hot tub" before the heat of competition began again.

For the semi-finals the girls were split into two groups of five with the top three going through to the final later in the day. Competitors repeated the five dives they performed in the morning with the scores reset to zero.

Her inward one and a half somersault opener prompted the judges to award her 47.52 with Bellan saying: "She stood that one up very nicely".

Lying fifth after the first round she scored 41.76 with her second effort, the forward two and a half somersault with tuck and followed up with 42.78 for her back one and a half somersault piked.

Her fourth dive, a reverse one and a half somersault which picked up 46.08 points, prompted Bellan to say: "That shows that Bermuda has some serious divers".

Unless catastrophe struck her competitors that score meant she had no chance of reaching third and her finale probably reflected that disappointment - a score of 41.58 for a forward one and a half somersault, one twist in the free position.

Horton-Perinchief's final score was 219.72 with Rebecca Gilmore of Australia ahead of her on 245.67. Anna Thomas of New Zealand brought up the rear with 214.38.

"It was good," said the Bermudian afterwards. "I was a little nervous for my first meet but it was good." During the interval she decided to take her mind off her own competition. "I was watching the men," she said with a smile. "They are incredible too. I just detached myself completely."

Horton-Perinchief said she had dwelled on what had gone before but was focused on what was to come when she strode out for the semis. "I was just looking to hit all my dives, just like I had this morning," she said. "I wanted to control the nerves and do well again."

She said she had not been worried about the standard of her rivals, far higher than what she is used to in the US.

"The other girls had a lot of hard dives and I was right in there with them," she said. "Being the only one (Bermudian) it was good."

Minister Horton was aglow with pride afterwards. "I thought she performed very well in her first international competition," he said. "She didn't look overawed. She was very well prepared and it showed - she wasn't that much behind the other divers."

He said that it boded well for the rest of the Games.

"She will have to be feeling good about it. As the commentator said, she was very controlled in her dives and we can hope for even better things from that high board," said Horton, referring to the three metre and 10 metre events to come.

Horton was an immensely proud man seeing his niece step out onto such a large stage. "I am just overawed. I am choked really," he said. "Just to see her when she first came out and was walking around. There is nothing better."