Bermuda triple jumper Brian Wellman believes the new world record set yesterday by Jonathan Edwards of Britain will be the distance to beat at the World Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Edwards, the favourite for next month's championships and the hottest triple jumper in the world right now, broke the long-standing mark held by Willie Banks of the US by only a centimetre with a leap of 17.98 metres (59 feet) at an international athletics meeting in Salamanca, Spain.

Banks set his record of 17.97 metres (58 feet, 111 inches) on June 16, 1985 in Indianapolis and it has stood as one of the oldest world marks in track and field.

"My big goal of the world championships is to win it,'' declared Wellman yesterday, who heard instantly about Edwards' feat via a cellular telephone call from his manager who was attending the meet. "The way things are going it looks like I'm going to have to jump that far to win.'' Wellman, taking a brief, self-imposed hiatus from triple jumping, said last week that seven months of gruelling competition and constant travel had taken a heavy toll on him.

Still, Wellman is confident that he can better Edwards' record.

"I've done some things in practice which shows me what I can do and I know what I can do,'' said Wellman. "Nobody has done anything that I feel I can't achieve or exceed, including 60 feet, five inches.

"I think I can jump incredibly far, but you don't want to go around telling everybody, you've got to keep it to yourself.'' Wellman, who described Edwards as "a really nice guy, a Christian guy'', has been spending the last few days seeking new ways to beat his rival.

"I'll try and tune my timing like I need to, and spend the least amount on the ground as possible,'' he said. "I know I can put together some phenomenal jumps.

"The whole thing with me is I'll put together the first two phases of some incredible jump, but my biggest problem is my contact time which is what Edwards does extremely well. He's got no time on the ground.'' The highlight of Wellman's year came in March when he won the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Spain. Besides that leap of 17.72 metres (58 feet, 13 inches) in Barcelona, he jumped a wind-assisted 17.79 metres (58-3) in Madrid last month.

But two of his most recent jumps have been below 17 metres.

Edwards, a bronze medallist at the 1993 World Championships, has been chasing Banks' record since early June and has jumped more than 593 feet several times this season, but those marks were wind-aided.

Yesterday's record leap came on the 29-year-old Briton's second jump with a tailwind of 1.8 metres per second. The legal limit is two metres per second.

"I figured he was in shape to do it,'' said Wellman. "I guess he felt he could take the world record. He had the rhythm after all those good jumps, so he was ready.

"It just makes for a good world championship and that's what it's all about.

It makes my event one of the highlighted events at the Worlds. It's going to be really good on my part and on Edwards' part and whoever else decides to get in the party. I've done my homework and done what I have to do.'' Edwards passed on his third attempt after setting the record yesterday and then pulled up on his fourth attempt, appearing to strain a leg muscle on the final step as he began his take-off. He skipped his final two jumps.

Ironically he used the event to prove his fitness to British track officials since he pulled out of last week's British trials with a sore ankle.

He missed most of last season with a virus and has said part of his improvement this year is due to studying the arm action of American Mike Conley, who won the world title in 1993 and is also Wellman's coach.

"The first thing I did was look at the wind speed,'' Edwards told reporters last night of his record-breaking leap. "The day has been perfect and the track is very fast. Under these conditions I knew I could beat the record. But technically (the jump) was not good. I started the run too far forward.''