Despite sharing the track again with the Christophe Lemaitre, the Frenchmen who went on to beat Britian's Dwain Chambers in the final to lift the title, the 23-year-old from Derry again exceeded expectations by finishing fourth in his 100 metres semi-final.

While he ran 10.46sec to Lemaitre's winning time of 10.06, Smyth was delighted with his position, having gone into the race ranked fifth.

After their semi-final, Smyth was pulled into a television booth trackside and interviewed right beside Lemaitre.

"Obviously it's very nice but generally I get on with it and let people say what they want to say," the double Paralympic champion said.

"I train with Tyson Gay and it's really not that big a deal, where other people would get scared.

"I don't mind what way people remember me but I'm coming here and performing well as a mainstream senior international and I'm trying to move forward to qualify for London 2012.

"At the same time, I am a Paralympic athlete, so you've also got to look at that as well I suppose."

His family, though, missed all the hype as they are in Florida.

"My two younger sisters didn't want to come watch me race for their holidays," he joked.


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July 2010: Smyth shows fitness to confirm place at European Championships
July 2010: Smyth picked to run against Chambers and Lemaître in Barcelona
June 2010: Smyth concentrating on track despite looming history
June 2010: Exclusive - Smyth contemplating 400m switch to boost London 2012 bid