Eight people will be inducted into the 2009 Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame tomorrow night at the Fairmont Southampton Princess.

And one of the strongest candidates for this year will be Bermuda's greatest ever triple jumper Brian Wellman.

Wellman is now eligible for the Hall of Fame and he was part of the great trio of track and field athletes in the 1980s and 1990s which included Commonwealth Games high jump gold medallist Clarance (Nicky) Saunders along with sprinter Troy Douglas.

Wellman's crowning glory came in 1995 when he won the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain setting a new indoor championship record of 17.72 metres. His personal best outdoors was 17.62 metres and both these marks are Bermuda records.

Track and Field News ranked Wellman in the top 10 of the world's triple jumpers for seven years.

Wellman also won the triple jump at the CAC Games in 1999 and was third at the World Indoor Championships in Toronto in 1992 as well as taking the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1994 in Victoria, Canada.

He was fifth at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and fifth at the World Championships in Greece in 1997.

Wellman competed for the University of Arkansas where he won two NCAA outdoor triple jump titles.

Other athletes who are believed to be candidates for one of the eight induction places include one of Bermuda's best ever football goalkeepers, Granville (Sam the Cat) Nusum, Olympic middle distance runner Mike Watson, along with fellow track athletes Branwen Smith-King, Hazzard Dill and road running king 'Sir' Stanley Burgess.

Tennis pioneer WER Joell, which the Tennis Stadium is named after, is also in the running as is former top player and now honorary vice-president of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association Allen Simmons.

The late Mike Preece, a giant in softball in Bermuda, is a candidate and this comes after Preece was inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame.

Like WER Joell, Preece has Bermuda's softball diamond named after him.

From the sport of golf Brendan (Bees) Ingham has been nominated while Alex (Cocky) Steede from cricket could also be inducted as could football referee and administrator Charlie Marshall.

Glen (Gappa) Wade from football is also in the reckoning.

So far 40 athletes and teams have been inducted into the Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame since the first induction ceremony in 2004.

Last year there was no induction ceremony.