world champion after leading all qualifiers on the opening day of the world indoor athletics championships yesterday.

Wellman easily made the qualifying mark of 16.80 metres (55 feet, one-and-a-half inches) when he jumped an indoor personal best of 17.06 (55-113 ) on his first jump at the Toronto SkyDome.

He was one of only four jumpers who cleared the mark but the eight next best performers also advanced so that tonight's final could have a full complement of 12 athletes.

They go into the six-round final with a clear slate but world number five Wellman is undoubtedly the favourite in an event that is minus the four men who are ranked ahead of him.

"My practice has been going really well and that (17.06) was an indication of how far I can jump,'' said Wellman from his hotel last night. "I was hoping to jump a little farther but the runway is a little tricky and not really conducive to triple jumping. It's better for long jumping.'' Wellman's jump was almost three inches better than the second qualifier, but he wants to leave no doubt tonight. "I didn't run as hard as I should have because I only had to jump 16.80,'' said the confident youngster. "My step phase to jump phase was not technically there but tomorrow I am going to blow it...hang it loose.

"I am going to get my approach down to where I want it in the warm-up and go for all I know. If I can go 57 feet to low 58s on my first jump, I'll go for it and hopefully that will set the rest of the meet up.'' Wellman gained the highest world ranking ever by a Bermudian athlete at the end of 1992 by finishing fifth at the Barcelona Olympics and then winning the Mobil Grand Prix Finals in Italy with a Bermuda record jump of 17.25.

That event saw him defeat Olympic champion Mike Conley for the first time, as well as silver medallist Frank Rutherford of the Bahamas and Russian Leonid Voloshin, who was fourth in Barcelona.

National coach Gerry Swan, who is in Bermuda, defends the validity of Wellman's stature in Toronto.

"Some may say that many of the top people are not there, but you have to remember that Brian beat them the last time he competed against them,'' he said. "A world championship is a world championship.'' The 25-year-old was in the first qualifying group yesterday morning, so he did not know he topped the 19-person field by mid-afternoon. He left immediately after his first jump while the others had to sweat it out over their three qualifying jumps with only Vladimir Melikhov of Russia (55-91 ), Yoelvis Quesada of Cuba (55-53 ) and group B leader Maris Bruziks of Latvia (55-51 ) certain of qualifying.

Quesada was in Barcelona while others who have qualified and made the Olympic finals include Britain's Jonathan Edwards and France's Pierre Camara.

The American influence is blunted by the absence of Conley and Olympic bronze medallist Charlie Simpkins, who are among a number of high-profile athletes who are staying away from the world indoors in support of a call for prize mroney to be paid to finalists at the world outdoor championships.

Wellman's former University of Arkansas team-mate Gary Johnson has qualified for the final as has Tyrone Scott, who attended the University of Texas.

Neither is expected to challenge for the gold.

While Wellman is looking forward to at least medalling, sprinter Troy Douglas is left to contemplate what went wrong after he failed to qualify for the 400 metres semifinals.

Douglas placed fourth in heat two in 47.55 seconds. He needed to either place in the top two or be one of the two fastest losers. There were five heats containing 27 runners and Douglas' time ranked joint 13th.

Butch Reynolds, running for the United States for the first time in five years after a drugs suspension, ran the fastest time of 46.37 seconds in heat three.

Results, Page 14 MIXED FORTUNES -- Troy Douglas, went out in the first round of the 400 metres last night, while at right, Brian Wellman is in position to become Bermuda's first world athletics champion. He led all qualifiers into tonight's triple jump final.