Triple jumper Brian Wellman missed out on a medal but posted one of his best performances of recent years when he finished in sixth place at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Canada, last night.

It was a far cry from the silver medal he won at these same championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, six years ago, but went some way to answering those critics who wrote off his career following disappointments at both the last Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg.

Last night the gold went to favourite Jonathan Edwards, the same man who beat Wellman in Gothenburg. He too was a long way short of his personal best 18.29 metres, the world record he set in Sweden.

Edwards secured first place with his third jump, leaping 17.92, although on his final attempt he crashed to the track and grabbed his lower leg as he grimaced with pain.

Sweden's Christian Olsson, the European Under-23 champion, won the silver medal with a jump of 17.47 and Russia's Igor Spasovkhodskiy came a surprising third with 17.44, improving on his personal best by 36 centimetres.

Wellman managed a best jump of 16.81 metres as Yoel Garcia of Cuba (17.4m) and American Walter Davis (17.2m) placed fourth and fifth.

The 33-year-old Bermudian improved on the jump of 16.78 which earned him a place in the final during weekend qualifying.

But he couldn't repeat the leap of 17.24 metres which reaped gold at last month's CAC track and field championships in Guatemala _ a performance that he had hoped would inspire another world championship medal.

Like Wellman, Edwards is now entering the twilight of an illustrious triple jump career. The gold medallist at last year's Sydney Olympics has won five world championship medals, including two golds.

Championship round-up - Page 23