Jason Smyth's Paralympics blog: 'Just because I can’t see very well doesn’t mean I’m not capable of being able to compete with the best'

Jason Smyth (29), a visually-impaired sprinter from Derry, is officially the "fastest Paralympian on the planet". He will be writing a monthly blog in the build-up to the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Jason on top of the podium again

In the past four weeks I’ve been racing in a lot of able-bodied competitions, including the European Championships in Amsterdam, from which I’ve just returned. First came the National Championships in Santry, where I won the 100m. It was four years since I’d competed at them, so it was long overdue and great to be there and win a title. I won the 100m once before (2011) and it is very satisfying because I don’t know how many Paralympic athletes have won their able-bodied national championships.

For me, that’s part of my philosophy; to show that you can achieve whatever you want to achieve. Just because I can’t see very well doesn’t mean I’m not capable of being able to compete with the best. I like to try and do things that other people don’t do, or see as possible. Two days later I ran in the Cork City Sports but wasn’t too happy with that. I was 4th in 10:52 seconds but in very windy conditions.