Tyler Butterfield grabbed bronze at the World Triathlon Championships but it could have been so much better.

Racing in the junior sprint for 16 to 19 year-olds in Cancun, Mexico, the Australia-based Bermudian was justifiably pleased with his performance, but stood on the bottom of the podium he was wishing he could have had his time over again - or at least the final few minutes of the race.

For the 19-year-old was in second and closing in on eventual gold medallist Terrenzo Bozzone of New Zealand when he tripped on carpet laid down on the approach to the finish.

Before he could pick himself up he was overhauled for silver by Frenchman David Hauss and faced a sprint to the line with Erhard Wolfaardt of South Africa to hold on to the bronze, a feat he achieved in a time of 56 minutes and four seconds.

"It sort of hit me at the prizegiving when we were on the podium and I was on the bottom step instead of the middle or the top," he said from Mexico yesterday. "When they played the national anthem of the New Zealand guy I was like `holy smoke'. There was only four seconds between us."

Butterfield need not be unduly hard on himself for it was an accident that could have happened to anyone and how many Bermudians can say they have come home from a race of this calibre with a medal of any sort?

That said there was still a degree of `what could have been' in his voice yesterday.

"With 50 metres to go there was three of us and I looked over my shoulder and tripped," he recalled. "The grass to the finish had carpet over it and when you stepped on it it was spongy.

"You could not see how the grass was underneath the mat either and when my foot landed it went underneath me and I didn't have enough time to steady myself with the other.

"I went onto my knee and then my shoulder and just rolled. I just tried to get up as fast as I could then because fourth was right behind."

For Butterfield, who came 14th among the elite men at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, this has been a breakout year. Long considered as having the potential to be among the top triathletes in the world he is now starting to prove that that opinion was not misplaced.

"This year has been tough in terms of training. I was so happy with Commonwealth because it was against the best in the world and here I was against the best in the world again, although they are all my age," he said.

"Going into this race, though I never said it before because I didn't want to put extra pressure on myself, I was aiming for the top five so I am happy with top three definitely."

Butterfield was joined in the junior race by up and coming Islander Matthew Herring. The 16-year-old came in 69th in 1:05.30.

In the male 25 to 29 triathlon Bermuda's national champion Andrew Davis came home 81st in 2:23.22.

In the Mexican heat it was an admirable performance but the athlete was somewhat downbeat in reflection.

"I had a great swim and a very good bike but I ran 51 minutes for the 10K which is slow - I did the national championships in around 41 minutes - and the only thing I can blame it on is the heat," he said.

"I was still pleased overall because I finished 81st in my age group out of 102 finishers."

For Davis this event does not seem to bring him happy memories.

"The two world championships I have been to I have flopped, so to speak," he said. "They just haven't been good races.

"I set myself high standards and when I don't reach them it just feels bad. But all in all I'm happy because three quarters of the race went well. I felt I had a bad run, but my bad run was still better than others."

Davis said he was determined to put matters right next year.

"It makes you want to come back and work even harder," he said.

If there was a medal for heart then it would probably have gone to Jamie Pedro.

Competing in the 30 to 34 year category he finished in 2:38.46 after walking the final stages of the run.

"I had really good swim and was probably in the top ten and my cycle was good and I started running really well for the first two kilometres," he said. "I don't what happened then, maybe the heat got to me, because my body just shut down. I ended up having to walk the rest of the race because every time I started running again I was wheezing like I had asthma.

"But there was no way I was going to stop or drop out, no matter how bad I felt."

Elsewhere, Jeff Conyers finished 36th in the male 45 to 49 division in a time of 2:29.31, while Steven Petty, competing in the 50 to 54 age group, was 56th in 2:39.48.

Bermuda's women also put on a good showing, Cathy Lama having the best result of the day, coming ninth in the 45 to 49 age division in 2:33.24. Lama now lives in the US.

Cora Lee Starzomski, enjoying her first year in the sport, came 51st in the 30 to 34 category in a time of 2:34.48, while Karen Madeiros came in 35th in 2:36.26 in the 35 to 39 division.