Jason SmythMBE (born 4 July 1987) is an Irish retired[1]sprint runner. He competes in the T13 disability sport classification as he is legally blind, with his central vision being affected by Stargardt's disease;[2] he also competes in elite non-Paralympic competition. As of July 2014[update], Smyth holds T13 World records in the 100m and 200m events.[3][4]
He was selected to represent Northern Ireland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[5] Deterioration in his vision meant that he was reassigned to the T12 classification in 2014, but he was subsequently reclassified back to T13 in 2015.[6]
Smyth made history as the first Paralympian to compete at an open European championships, qualifying for the semi-finals of the 100 metres. Smyth ran 10.43 seconds, finishing 4th in his heat.[10] He just missed out on the final by finishing 4th in semi-finals in a time of 10.47 seconds.[11] Smyth was selected to represent Northern Ireland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but had to withdraw from the team due to a back injury.[12][13]
Smyth hoped to compete in both the Paralympics and the Olympics in 2012. Although he ran 10.22 for the 100m in May 2011, this was 0.04s short of the A time needed to secure a place in the Olympic Games.[14][15]
At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Smyth won Heat 1 of the 100m final breaking the World Record in a time of 10.54 seconds before breaking the record again in the final where he defended his Paralympic title in a time of 10.46 seconds.[16] This final was also marked as the fastest Paralympic 100 metres in history. Smyth equalled his Beijing achievement by winning gold in the Men's T13 200m with a world record time of 21.05 seconds.[17]
In 2017 the International Paralympic Committee's website described him as "the world's fastest Paralympian".[20] In 2015 it had described him as "the fastest para-athlete of all time",[8] while Britain's BBC described him as "the world's fastest ever Paralympian" in 2016.[21]
In December 2023 he was announced in the line-up for Dancing with the Stars Ireland season 7. On Saint Patrick's Day 2024, despite receiving low scores throughout the competition, Smyth and his dance partner Karen Byrne were announced as the winners of the show.[22]
^"Irish team heading home". RTÉ Sport. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Matias Grez (9 September 2016). "Paralympics day 2: Jason Smyth emulates Bolt, controversy on the track". CNN. Retrieved 28 August 2021. Emulating Bolt? Plenty was written about Usain Bolt's historic "triple-triple,", but one Irish sprinter matched the Jamaican by winning his third consecutive Paralympic gold. ... The Irishman is also reigning Paralympic champion in the 200m but won't have the opportunity to win a "triple-double", after the International Paralympic Committee opted to drop the event from the Games.
^"Jason Smyth". International Paralympic Committee. 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2021. Smyth, the world's fastest Paralympian, claimed his seventh world title at London 2017, winning double sprint gold to continue his unbeaten run in world-class Para athletics which now stands at over a decade.
