BEIJING PARALYMPIC GAMES: SPRINTER JASON Smyth had been well flagged as an Irish name to watch in the Paralympics, but no one was expecting that every time the young Derryman put his running shoes on in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium he would proceed to break a world record.
Smyth is on fire and his success at the Paralympics so far is unprecedented in Irish sporting history. If Smyth were an able-bodied athlete, they'd be revving up the engine of the open-topped bus on the banks of the Foyle and polishing the key to the City of Derry as you read this. Perhaps they already are.
Yesterday Smyth ran the 200 metres, in the T13 category for visually impaired athletes, in 21.81 seconds, taking two-hundredths of a second off his own world record time, and this was just the heats.
Today's final starts at 12.40pm Irish time, but it will already be evening in Beijing and a capacity crowd is sure to fill the Bird's Nest stadium, just as it has every night at these games.
Among those waving Tricolours in the crowd of 91,000, expectations are high that Smyth could break the record again.
The 20-year-old won gold in the T13 100 metres on Saturday in a record 10.62 seconds. To get to that final, he beat his own record of 10.81 in the qualifying heats.
The rest of the field was left struggling in the 100 metres, but things could be a fair bit tougher in the 200 metres final.
In the two semi-finals, the five fastest qualifiers were within half a second of each other.
Irish eyes will be peering in the direction of Alexey Labzin of Russia, who ran a season's best 21.86 to win his semi-final, just five-hundredths off Smyth's mark.
Smyth and his coach Stephen Maguire had identified Cuba as a threat before the competition, and the Cuban Luis Manuel Galano was not too far behind Smyth when posting 22.04.
The other Cuban in the field, Luis Felipe Gutierres, came second in the other heat, also with a time of 22.04.
Vugar Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan ran third in his qualifier in 22.19, while Jonathan Ntutu of South Africa clocked 22.71.
No, it won't be as easy tonight and Maguire acknowledged the final would surely be a close-run thing.
"But we're looking forward to it," said the coach.
"He was controlled out there; he ran a strong bend and a good straight and everything went according to plan."
Ireland's Athens silver medallist John McCarthy had to content himself with 11th place in the club throw yesterday.
Irish supporters will also be watching Tralee's Roy Guerin race in the heats of the T53 100 metres, seeking a place in the evening final, while Cork's Orla Barry competes in the F57/58 discus tomorrow evening in the Bird's Nest, also bidding for a place in the final.
And the seven-a-side football team are playing the Netherlands in the fifth/sixth place play-off in the morning.
The Paralympics are winding down now, and what a performance the Irish team have put in! Gay Shelly's bronze in the boccia, Darragh McDonald's silver in the the 400-metre freestyle (S6) at the Water Cube, Michael McKillop's 800-metre gold and Smyth's 100-metre gold, as well as dozens of personal bests and towering personal achievements.
The team have already secured an improved placing on their eighth finish in Athens, which was among their stated objectives coming here.
