Smyth’s poor form continues in Orlando

Running into a wind of two metres per second, times were slow with Jamaican, Ramone McKenzie winning in 10.44 seconds.

The talented sprinter was 0.45 seconds outside his personal best and as he also finished behind Keston Bledman (10.51), Rodney Greene (10.64) and Gerard Phiri (10.66).

Smyth was disqualified at a meeting the previous Saturday following a false start after running an earlier time of 10.36.

“Not such a good day at the start. Not me this time though,” said Smyth on Twitter after the race. “People jittering in set affected everyone. It’s going to be third time lucky.”

The Eglinton man’s principal target this summer is to qualify for the World Championships in Moscow as he has already booked a place at the Paralympics World Championships in France.

To do that, the four-time Paralympic gold medallist will have to better his personal best as the Moscow championships B standard is 10.21 with the A mark 10.15.

In recent years, Athletics Ireland have selected athletes with B standards for World Championships if no performer has achieved the A mark. Smyth’s 10.22 personal best in 2011 earned him a place at that year’s World Championships in Daegu while his 2012 best of 10.24 was .06seconds outside the London Olympics standard.

He will be hoping for a major improvement in his next outing after what has been a disappointing start to his summer outdoor campaign, which has also come on the back of his controversial exclusion from this year’s London Anniversary Games. “I’ve heard absolutely nothing about the Anniversary Games. To come out of last year’s games as the fastest Paralympian on the planet - isn’t that somebody you would think you would want to have at the Anniversary Games?,” he said.