Tyler Butterfield, the Bermuda triathlete, finished an impressive eighth at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Austria at the weekend.

Butterfield, whose wife Nikki made her comeback in the race, finishing seventeenth in the women’s field, finished with an overall time of 3hr 58min 44sec.

The 32-year-old had plenty of work to do after the swim, posting a time of 24.05 to leave him in 61st position, almost two minutes behind pre-race favourite Jan Frodeno of Germany.

He managed to work his way through the field into fourteenth with one of the fastest bike splits of 2:13:48 in the 56-mile ride before producing a strong showing in the 13.1-mile run, finishing in 1:17:19.

Frodeno took top honours in 3:51:19. with Sebastian Kienle, also of Germany, in second and Javier Gomez of Spain, the present leader of the Olympic distance World Series, in third.

After a solid start in the women’s race, Nikki understandably faded during the latter stages for an overall time of 4:42:07.

Matt Thompson was the only other Bermuda triathlete competing in the race, finishing 84th in the men’s 45 to 49 age group in 5:06:30.