Tyler Butterfield finished a disappointing 16th place in the Under-23 division at the Triathlon World Championships in Portugal yesterday.

Butterfield, still awaiting official confirmation of his Olympic wildcard, was thinking medals before heading down to Madeira and will be disappointed to have finished more than three minutes off the lead.

The 21-year-old had been hopeful of competing in the Elite Men's Race but the International Triathlon Union placed him in the Under 23s ? a decision that may have proved to be the correct one given Butterfield's lowly finish.

And it was his poor swim ? he finished 60 out of 61 in the water in 19 minutes 29 seconds ? that cost him any chance of a medal and although he recovered well, particularly on the run where he had the fifth fastest time, it was all too little too late on the tough European course.

The other five Bermudians who travelled to Portugal also found it tough going, with the cycle course in Madeira a particularly challenging one.

Jamie Brown, competing in the 25-29 age group, had the next best finish ? and a "fantastic time" ? coming in 20th.

Brown, who finished in 2 hours 51 minutes and 11 seconds, less than ten minutes off the lead in a field of 98 was delighted with his performance.

"I really enjoyed the whole event," he said after competing on Saturday.

"I was intimidated on the swim just because of the amount of athletes swimming on top of each other. But the bike was good and the run was fast and flat. It was a fabulous day ? the course and conditions suited me although I did find the transition long."

In the Junior men's race, Coyatito Smith battled hard through the choppy waters of the 750 metre swim and found the first three kilometres of the 20km bike ride particularly hard, racing on his own until the 15 km mark.

At this point he was joined by Khamari Greaves, who also struggled in the water and found the hills tough on the middle leg, and the two brought up the rear in the 72 man field with Smith finishing in 1 hour, 24 minutes 41.3 seconds and Greaves following in 1:27:12.0.

In the 50-54 age group, Steven Petty and Jeff Conyers finished 55th and 46th respectively.

Although Petty was happy with his swim, he struggled on the cycling leg which featured very few flat sections. His time was his worst ever, something he blamed on the weak middle section.

Conyers saw the fun side of his tough day in Portugal, joking: "When I got to the hill I said I had to agree with my wife when she says that I am to old for this."