There were no stumbles on this occasion for Tre Houston, the Bermuda sprinter, but he was unable to redeem himself in the fashion that he would have hoped after missing out on the 200 metres semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games this morning.

Houston admitted that his blunder in Monday’s 100 heats, when he lost his footing out of the starting blocks, had tortured his mind before the race at Hampden Park.

At least the hundreds of supportive messages that he received on Facebook and Twitter had helped partially to repair his bruised confidence, with Houston making a smooth and forceful start to his 200 heat before fading towards the end of the race, finishing in a time 21.39sec for fourth.

Houston said that he had been relieved to execute an error-free race, although he conceded that his Glasgow experience had been tinged with disappointment, having failed to reach the semi-finals in either of his events.

“There was no stumble this time and I’m a lot happier to put a start together today,” said Houston, who placed 41st overall out of 71 runners. “I was happy to come out and compete today, although I was a bit disappointed with the time and not being able to reach the semi-finals.

“I’ve had a tremendous year but that’s no good if you don’t back up your times at the big events.”

Houston, who worked with Linford Christie, England’s greatest sprinter, in London prior to the Games, said that he hoped there would be many more major competitions on the horizon for him.

“I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and try and work on a few things as I look towards next year’s World Championships [in Beijing],” said Houston, 24, who made his Commonwealth Games debut in New Delhi in 2010, achieving a then-personal best of 10.45 in the 100 and reaching the semi-finals in the 200, clocking 21.25.

“I’ve been racing for almost a month straight, so I’ve missed out on a bit of speed endurance work — that’s what I think I was lacking.

“Hopefully there are many more competitions to come for me because I’m still relatively young.”