Gold! Ireland’s Jason Smyth claims third straight Paralympics 100m title

Ready. Would six and a half hours sleep, a 6.45am wake-up call and a mid-morning start-time militate against him?

Steady. The ‘Fastest Paralympian on the Planet’ – everything on the line.

Go. The race is over after 50 metres; Jason Smyth glides to a third T13 100 metres gold medal to further gild his achievements in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).

The 29-year-old crossed the line at the Olympic stadium in Rio in a vacuum of silence, punctuated only by the cries of a handful of Irish supporters, congregated behind two flags draped over barriers on the far side of the arena.

Brazilian brio – they had two athletes in the final – so evident, moments earlier, has been sucked from the occasion by Smyth’s imperious display. The applause is polite, an incongruous backdrop to a marquee track event. The scheduling seems daft when weighed against a cavernous stadium with about 20 per cent occupancy.

Smyth may consider the aesthetics peripheral and it certainly won’t detract from the satisfaction of extending his reign nor diminish his appetite to continue. He’s going to Tokyo in 2020.

He doesn’t even mind that the one sequence he broke in Rio relative to his two previous 100 metre Paralympic triumphs was not breaking the world record.

“At the end of the day times are great. If I came out here and ran fast or ran a world record then (that would be) incredible, (but) as long as you cross that line first the rest if forgotten.

“I have planned to go to Tokyo. To be honest the last four years haven’t been where I would like them to have been. That’s the joys of sport, years where you get injuries; I haven’t kicked on these four years, compared to where I was on the run-in to London.

“I know looking back at London that I am capable of running quicker. For me in the next four years I want to go on and run faster. To be honest, in my own head, this year is year one of my five-year cycle (towards Tokyo).”

He’s conscious of celebrating this triumph as a separate entity. Injury has perhaps offered the stiffest challenge over the past couple of years.

“It’s my third consecutive Paralympic games and to win my fifth gold medal is incredible. It’s a bit like a fairytale really to come to these major championships and keep winning gold.

“I don’t want the fairytale to end and thankfully it doesn’t end and it just keeps getting better.”

The only regret he harboured is that he has been denied an opportunity to add the 200 metres title for a third consecutive Paralympics because of a reclassification.

“Absolutely (I’m disappointed), double gold at Beijing, double gold at London; the next step was the double gold attempt at Rio.

“It would have been incredible to have a go at that here. I have known for three or four years that it wasn’t going to be. It’s disappointing though, not just for me but (because) the T13 category is generally one of the quicker events. For me the spectators want to see fast times and fast people, so it’s probably a bit disappointing that they miss that opportunity as well.”

In running the heats on Thursday night locally, Smyth knew that the short turnaround to the final was a challenge. “By the time I got home (on Thursday night) and went to bed it was probably close to midnight and then I was up at 6:45am to get breakfast.

“But I was ready to go and I knew I had to step it up another notch; I felt like I was able to do that.”

On the cusp of being whisked away for the medal presentation, a Japanese journalist asked whether Smyth would consider himself a legend?

“No. For me it’s just about trying to continue to be successful. I hope that it shows people that you can come out and achieve things.

“I grew up in Ireland, nothing special, no better privileges than anyone else; I have just worked hard, committed to what I am doing, had good people supporting me and guiding me, had the success (that ensued) and hopefully that can encourage others.”

There are few better role medals in Irish sport.

The youngest member of the Ireland team, 14-year-old Nicole Turner got her extensive swimming programme off to a super start by finishing second in her heat and qualifying as the fourth fastest for tonight’s S6 women’s 50 metres butterfly final (10.18pm, Irish time).

Turner from Portarlington only turned 14 in June and she maintained her form that caused something of a sensation at the Para-Swimming European Open championships in May when she reached six finals, setting nine personal bests and winning three medals, two silvers and a bronze.

Swimming in heat one, she finished two seconds behind Britain’s Ellie Robinson but less than half a second behind the first and second home in heat two, Oksana Khrul (Ukraine) and Tiffany Thomas Kane (Australia) suggesting that she has a genuine medal chance this evening.

Ireland’s women’s Tandem B pairing of Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal finished seventh in the final of the 1000 metres track time trial in a person best time of 1:12.332.

They finished three places higher than the 10th place they finished in the World Championships in March. Dunlevy and McCrystal were relieved to get their campaign started, and now move their focus to the endurance events later on in the Games.

Speaking after the race they said: “It was good with the crowds to get out doing a race on the track. Now we can focus on the 3km; we are ready to race. The Kilo is flat out; your legs are hanging from one lap to go.”

The women’s tandem competes in the Pursuit event on Sunday, and that is a focus event for them: “The Pursuit is paced and endurance, it suits us better. If you go out too hard in it you pay for it later; our coach is on the side and he gives splits while we pace.”

In the men’s individual pursuit qualification rounds, Colin Lynch and Eoghan Clifford were both in action with Lynch finishing fifth in a time of 3:53.300 which was not enough to see him through to the medal races. Clifford finished fourth in his event and he will now compete for the bronze medal against Sametz of Canada at 10.35pm (Irish time) on Friday evening.

Elsewhere, in the Table Tennis competition, Rena McCarron Rooney went in her singles class qualifier (Group B) opener against China’s Jing Liu with real optimism but, despite playing well, was beaten by Jing Liu in a score of 11-9, 11-4, 11-2.

Speaking after the match, McCarron Rooney said: “I knew it was going to really tough, she is the Paralympic champion from Beijing and from London, so I knew what to expect. My goal was to get my own game going, which I did.

“I served really well but she has an amazing reach, and she was just too strong for me.”

Rena McCarron Rooney will face Jordan’s Maha Bargouthi at 10.40pm (Irish time) on Friday night.