Jason Smyth has already qualified for this year's European Championships

Derry sprinter Jason Smyth clinched his expected double win at the Paralympic World Cup meeting in Manchester.

The Eglinton man won the 100 metres in a solid 10.66 seconds and eased to 200m success in 22.07.

Smyth only arrived back in the UK on Monday after a five-month training stint in the US.

The 22-year-old is making an impact in able-bodied athletics and he has already qualified for this year's European Championships in Barcelona.

Smyth recently improved his 100m personal best to 10.41 and his 200m lifetime best of 21.09 set 10 days ago is only .09s secs outside the standard for the Barcelona championships.

The visually-impaired Londonderry man has been training in Florida alongside American sprinting star Tyson Gay over the past five months in a group of athletes guided by coach Lance Brauman.

The Northern Irishman's coach Stephen Maguire also travelled to the US with the sprinter and became an assistant to Brauman.

Smyth won double gold at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and he is aiming to make history in 2012 by becoming the first track and field athlete to compete at an Olympics and Paralympics in the same year.

Last year, he represented Ireland at the European Under-23 Championships and finished the season on a high by winning the Irish 100m title and qualifying for this season's European Championships by improving his personal best to 10.42.

Given that it is early in the season, Smyth looks on course to considerably improve his personal best this year and Paul Brizzel's Northern Ireland 100m record of 10.35 could well be under threat.

Smyth was content with his performances on Tuesday after the exertions of his transatlantic flight on Monday.

"My blocks did slip in the 200m and I nearly fell on my hands at the start of the race," Smyth told BBC Sport.

"My training has been going better than I could have imagined.

"I had two personal bests in the States and things are looking promising for the Europeans."

Smyth is unlikely to have any competitive outings until the Northern Ireland Championships at Antrim on 12 June.

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