Jason Smyth: Paralympic sport’s fastest man retires aged 35

Irishman Jason Smyth, the fastest man in Paralympic sport, has announced his retirement at the age of 35.

The sprinter won six Paralympic titles, including 100m and 200m doubles at the Beijing and London Games in 2008 and 2012.

The visually impaired Smyth went unbeaten throughout his Paralympic career, which began at the 2005 European Championships.

In his most recent Paralympic triumph, he beat Algerian Skander Djamil Athmani in the T13 100m in Tokyo.

It was the Northern Irishman’s 21st major title in his Paralympic career, which also included nine world titles and six European gold medals.

Smyth, from County Londonderry, had perfect vision until the age of nine, when a hereditary condition known as Stargardt’s disease caused his vision to deteriorate.

His athletics talent was developed by current UK Athletics Technical Director Stephen Maguire, who initially coached Smyth to an Irish Schools title before learning the full extent of his disability.

The Strabane man realized that Smyth was a potential Paralympic candidate and by the following summer he was a two-time European Paralympic champion. These achievements qualified Smyth for the maximum 40,000 euro grant from the Irish Sports Council.

Not only has Smyth been on the Paralympic stage, but with a personal best of 10.22 seconds in the 100m, he competed alongside Usain Bolt and the other top able-bodied sprinters in the world at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea at.

Smyth became the first Paralympic athlete to compete in a European Championship when he reached the 100m semifinals in Barcelona in 2010 and had high hopes of representing Ireland at both the Paralympics and the London 2012 Olympics.

His 2011 personal best 100m was an agonizing 0.04 seconds outside the Olympic norm, but he regrouped from that disappointment in spectacular style as he defended his Paralympic title in London.

In the 100m final at the Olympic Stadium, Smyth improved his own T13 100m world record to 10.46 seconds and put on an even more impressive performance in the 200m when he lowered his existing global mark to 21.05 seconds – 0, 11 slower than his fastest performance -body competition in the longer sprint.

Those two times remained his fastest performances in Paralympic competition, but titles kept rolling for the Eglinton native over the next nine years – despite often battling injuries.

Smyth’s hopes of a third consecutive Paralympic sprint doubles were dashed by the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to withdraw the T13 200m from the program at the Rio 2016 Games.

However, Smyth, who represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow two years earlier, easily retained the 100m title as he ran 10.64 seconds and finished 0.14 seconds ahead of Johannes Nambala of Namibia.

At the games in Tokyo in August 2021, which had been postponed by a year due to the Covid 19 pandemic, it was tighter overall.

Smyth’s cherished unbeaten record in Paralympic competitions looked to be under serious threat from rising Algerian Athmani, but a superb start from the Irishman gave him an early advantage in the final and his perfectly timed jump at the finish line helped him fend off the North African on the narrowest of edges – 0.01 seconds.

After his Tokyo triumph, Smyth said he would consider extending his Paralympic career to Paris 2024, but about 17 months before those Games he has decided to close the curtain on his days of competition.

Smyth’s retirement closes a glorious Paralympic athletics chapter for both the Irish and Northern Ireland sports after his great friend Michael McKillop retired from the sport following the Tokyo Games.

Like Smyth, McKillop secured double gold for Ireland in London 2012 after winning his maiden Paralympic title in Beijing four years ago, followed by another triumph at the Rio Games.

Despite his astounding streak of success, Smyth often spoke of his frustration at how quickly media interest would dwindle upon his return home.

Ahead of the postponed Tokyo Games, he also said he doubted there were any obvious successors to Northern Ireland’s golden generation of Paralympians, which included swimmer Bethany Firth, skier Kelly Gallagher and fellow athlete McKillop.

With Smyth now retired, Firth is the only member of this quartet to remain in competition.