The visually impaired 22-year-old from Derry in Northern Ireland competes in both able bodied and disabled athletics and last weekend claimed the biggest scalp of his career by defeating Portugal's reigning European champion Francis Obikwelu at the European Team Championships 1st League competition in Budapest.

Smyth, who trains out in Florida alongside American sprint star Tyson Gay, is set to compete in both the 100m and 200m for Ireland at the European Championships in Barcelona next month while he will contest the 100m for Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

But Smyth, who won the 100m and 200m in the T13 category at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, revealed that he could soon step up to the 400m as he believes it could be his strongest event.

Smyth told insideworldparasport: "I am considering moving up to the 400m because it is the event that I think I could be most successful at internationally.

"Four hundred metres is a long way to run around the track and it would definitely mean a lot of hard training for me but it is an event that is on my radar. 

"Right now, I am very focused on doing well in the 100 and 200m and lowering my times in those two events but I think somewhere down the line the 400m could be a good event for me so you never know."

Smyth was delighted to claim a victory over European champion Obikwelu in Budapest but dismissed the suggestion that the win made him a medal prospect at the European Championships in Barcelona.

He said: "Obikwelu is a very nice name to beat but I don’t think that makes me a medal contender for the European Championships.

"Right now my PB (personal best) is 10.32 but you have got guys like Dwain Chambers competing in Barcelona who just ran under ten seconds at the weekend so I think that is the sort of time you will need to run to be in medal contention there.

"My goal for the European Championships is just to run well and hopefully lower my PB.

"I am just looking to slowly improve my own form and gaining the experience of competing at major Championships like the Europeans and Commonwealths is great but I am not targeting a medal there or anything.

"If I can keep steadily improving, I will be happy with that and hopefully by London 2012, I can do well at both the Olympics and the Paralympics."

To read a full-length interview with Smyth click here.

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