third-place finish in the triple jump when he leapt 17.11 metres (56-11 ) at the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday night.

It was the third consecutive meet where Wellman finished in the top three and puts him in excellent position for the world championships, which begin on Friday in Stuttgart, Germany.

More significantly, the jump was his finest of the last three meetings he has participated in.

On July 23 at the London Grand Prix, Wellman finished in third place when he jumped 16.83 metres. Two weeks earlier, at a meet in Oslo, he finished second when he leapt 16.59 metres.

Wellman finished in third spot on Saturday behind a German and a Canadian.

Germany's Ralf Jaros, who Wellman beat at the Olympics, grabbed first place when he jumped 17.18 metres while Edrich Floreal was close behind in second place with a jump of 17.16 metres.

Behind Wellman were Georges Sainte-Rose of France (16.94), Lofti Kaida of Algeria (16.92), Milan Mikulas of the Czech Republic (16.65), Barcelona Games silver medallist Frank Rutherford of the Bahamas (16.46) and Aleksandr Kovalenko of Belarus (16.33).

At the London Grand Prix, Wellman finished behind Latvian Maris Bruziks, the silver medallist at the world indoor championships, and England's Jonathan Edwards. In Oslo, Wellman finished second behind Edwards.

The third-place finish at Monaco continues a wonderful summer for Wellman, where the high point was the announcement in early July that he became the first Bermudian to win a medal at a world athletics meeting.

The International Amateur Athletics Federation confirmed on July 7 that Nicolai Raev, who tested positive for amphetimines at the world indoor championships was banned four years by the Bulgarian athletics federation.

That opened the door for Wellman to collect the bronze medal because he was the fourth-place finisher at the Toronto meeting.

More athletics on Page 23.