Smyth on track for double gold

On Saturday Smyth secured another world record to win the T13 100 metres and cruised into tomorrow (Friday) night’s T200 metres final.

The 25-year-old, won his T13 200 metres heat in a time of 21.48 seconds to qualify for tomorrow evening’s final, was over the moon following his remarkable 10.46 second sprint on Saturday night.

“This was far better than winning in Beijing,” he said afterwards. “There were 80,000 people and it felt like half of them were Irish.

“It was an added bonus to run quickly and break the world record again,” he continued. “To be in that stadium with 80,000 people, half of them seeming like they’re Irish cheering, and even the British were really supportive, makes the whole Games a lot better.

“Coming into the Championships I knew I was under pressure to retain my title so I wanted to do that first and foremost and thankfully I was able to do that. “Of course there was the added bonus of a world record but times at championships are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether you run 10.00secs or 11.00secs as long as you win. I believe I can run quicker than that again.”

Asked if the gold medal performance made up for his Olympic absence, he said: “It was very disappointing to be so close, I had put in a lot of hard work to try and get there and it would have been fantastic.

“There is definitely something sweeter about coming to a major event, succeeding and coming away with the gold medal.”

Smyth – who will bid to emulate Usain Bolt’s ‘double double’ by retaining his 200m title on Friday – puts much of his success down to his relocation to Florida where he enjoys the same training facilities as the second fastest man in history, Tyson Gay.

“Tyson’s been fantastic towards me out in the states. I’ve learned a lot from him and constantly he’s been trying to help me – nearly as if he’s been taking me under his wing this past few years to help me succeed.

“I’ve been able to be in that environment continually with the best athletes in the world so daily I’m being pushed to my limit and I’m constantly training at the highest level.

“When you’re constantly in that mindset and environment, all you can do is push on yourself. It’s shown in the last couple of years that I’ve gotten quicker and quicker.

“In all aspects of life, to try and improve you’ve got to go where the experts and athletes are. In sprinting that’s north America and the Caribbean.”