Smyth storms through to semi-finals

JASON SMYTH may have set three records in Barcelona last evening when he became the first Paralympic athlete to compete at the European Championships, becoming the first Irishman to make the semi-finals of the 100m and it is unlikely any other athlete could have spent so much time in the mixed zone doing media interviews.

The 23-year-old Derryman, who is partially sighted, won gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the Paralympic Games in Beijing and last evening he came off a spectacular start to finish fourth in his heat and gain automatic qualification for this evening’s semi-finals, with the final to follow on the same programme.

“Before we came out here we wanted to get to the semi-final and now, hopefully, we can run a bit quicker tomorrow and see where that gets me,” he said.