Smyth claims gold medal

Visually-impaired Smyth has dominated T13 sprinting at world level 2006 but was moved into the T12 category on the eve of the Swansea championships.

However the Eglinton sprinter took a dominant victory in the 100 metres today (Tuesday) as he clocked 10.78 seconds in the final.

The Irish team member, will chase 200 metres gold on Thursday.

“It was not what I was expecting,” he said. “I have found it hard to get my head around the fact that, a few days before my competition, everything has changed; the days I am competing, who I compete against, everything.

“It also means since the last time I was classified my eyesight has got worse which is never what you want to hear. Saying all that, it doesn’t change what I want to achieve. I want to run faster, have more success in Paralympic sport and continue to bridge the gap between Paralympic and able bodied sport.”

Classification is an integral part of Paralympic sport and provides the structure to separate athletes with similar levels of impairments into groups, or classes as they are commonly known, so they can compete in fair and equal competitions. It works along similar lines to grouping athletes by weight categories in sports such as boxing or rowing. In athletics, classification the ‘T’ refers to ‘track’ and the lower numbers denote the more severe the athletes’ impairments.