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Jason Smyth (Photo: Seamus Costello)

Jason Smyth picked up his fifth title of the outdoor season when he won the Irish Junior (U20) 100 metres championship at Tullamore last Sunday.

The Eglinton youth had previously done the sprint double at both the Ulster and Irish Schools to add another four gold medals to his burgeoning collection.

However, the City of Derry sprinter’s hopes of obtaining a qualifying mark for next month’s World Junior Athletics Championships in Beijing were again thwarted by the wind.

Smyth had already run faster than the required 10.74 seconds on four occasions only to have the timings ruled ineligible by a following wind in excess of the permitted limit.

However, it was a whole new experience in Tullamore for the 19-year-old when he had to run into a headwind of 2.2 metres per second.

Undaunted the World Paralympic champion was first out of the blocks and had at least five metres to spare at the tape. 

“Jason’s time of 10.88 seconds into a headwind was probably his best performance of the season,” said his coach, Stephen Maguire.

“It’s getting frustrating for him with the deadline for qualification getting so close but he should be able to do it next weekend in Mannheim.”

Another Maguire-coached athlete Kevin O’Doherty dropped down in distance at the same meeting and was unlucky to miss out on gold in the 200 metres.

O’Doherty, a pupil at St. Columb’s College, crossed the line along with double Irish Schools Intermediate champion Gerard O’Reilly.

Both men were timed at 23.00 seconds and it took a photo before the Cavan athlete was given the decision. O’Doherty will now return to the 400 metres distance for the rest of the season with the possibility of a switch to the middle-distances next year.

A middle distance maestro moving in the opposite direction was David McCarthy.  

The Waterford 17-year-old just missed out on World Junior qualification at the Cork City Sports on Saturday with a 3:48.46.  Twenty four hours later he was in action again dropping down to 400 metres with dramatic effect to take second in a personal best 50.45 seconds.

Not so lucky was Pajo Hamilton who missed out on a medal in the U23 800 metres when he finished fourth in 1:55.41