By John Haughey
BBC Sport |
The 18-year-old's visual-impairment hasn't prevented him from ranking as the sixth fastest Irishman over 100m in 2005 with a legal time of 10.85.
He was third in the Irish National Championships behind Olympian Gary Ryan and Jer O'Donoghue in July.
That came a few weeks after his Irish Schools sprint senior sprint double.
Smyth's emergence has been all the more remarkable given that he has been in the sport for only two years.
After being encouraged by his father, he went to City of Derry athletic club two where his potential was immediately spotted by club coach Malcolm McCausland.
"It was obvious that he had exceptional leg speed and smoothness and I immediately enrolled him in Stephen Maguire's sprint group," said McCausland.
Maguire has guided the teenager's sprinting fortunes ever since and says he feels fortunate to be working with such a "hugely-talented" athlete.
 |  He hasn't even done any weights yet |
Smyth made an immediate impact at national level last year when his winning time in the Intermediate 100m at the Irish Schools Championship was faster than the senior champion.
That helped him earn him a dream trip to the Commonwealth Youth Championships in Bendigo in Australia last November when he represented Northern Ireland.
It was only earlier this year that coach Maguire, after realising the full extent of his charge's sight problems, suggested that the Derry athlete should explore the possibility of competing in Paralympic competition.
He did preliminary eligibility tests in Ireland but it was only after travelling to the Games venue in Espoo that he got the all-clear to compete.
However, Smyth was to emerge as the star of a hugely-successful Irish team which returned home from Finland with 10 medals.
In both sprint finals, he left the USA's Paralympic great Royal Mitchell in his wake and his winning times of 10.96 and 21.84 were new world records in the T13 category.
His winning time in the 100m was .11 slower than his personal best set in Crete earlier this summer.
His times seem certain to improve still further as he has a wind-assisted 10.59 to his credit.
At 18-years-old, Smyth can look forward to competing in Paralympics in Beijing and London and perhaps even beyond that to the 2016 Games.
| In terms of the funding, it has been made clear that he is going to be well looked after |
His brilliant performances this year mean he is guaranteed to be on the top rung of funding from the Irish Sports Council from 2006 which is likely to be in the region of 30,000 Euro per year.
Maguire says the funding will enable the Eglinton lad to effectively become a full-time athlete in the run-up to the Paralympics in Beijing.
"His potential is immense. He hasn't even done any weights yet at all because he has still been growing and it wouldn't have been ethical to do that up to now," says the Strabane man.
"And he's had his great season this year after basically not doing any training between November and April after he came back from the Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia.
"At the moment, he weighs less than 10 stone so there is massive potential for his 100m and 200m times to come down significantly and I actually think his best event will be 400m.
"The Irish Sports Council have already been in touch with him since he got home from Finland and, in terms of the funding, it has been made clear that he is going to be well looked after.
"He has already had great back-up from the likes of Susan Spence, who is his physio in Derry and he will now be guaranteed even more support."
Maguire, whose own coaching mentor in the Ballymena & Antrim stalwart Maeve Kyle, acknowledges that having such a good athlete on his hands is almost a bit daunting.
"It's going to be a big challenge but he's a very bright and level-headed lad so I'm very excited about the future."
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