Jason Smyth narrowly misses European qualifying time

Smyth needs to run 10.16 to gain Olympic Games selection

Jason Smyth missed out on qualifying for the European Championships 100m by just 0.01 seconds as he clocked 10.39 in Florida on Saturday.

The Irish Paralympic star ran 10.42 in his heat before going marginally faster in the C final.

Smyth, 28, has ambitions of competing at this year's Olympics before defending his Paralympic titles in Rio.

The Northern Irishman will need to run 10.16 seconds to book an Olympic 100m spot.

The Europeans take place in early July, a month before the Olympics, and Smyth looks capable of running the qualifying time for the Amsterdam championships.

Sprinter Amy Foster ran her best time of 2016 at Clermont

Judging by his early season performances in America, Olympic qualification looks more problematic, although Smyth's time on Saturday was his fastest in three years.

The Eglinton man sustained a knee injury four months after defending his Paralympic sprint titles in 2012 and his last three seasons were affected by the ailment.

Smyth was joined in his opening heat by former training partner Tyson Gay who clocked a time of 10.03 in both the qualifier and later A final.

Also running in the Elite Invitational meeting at Clermont, Amy Foster ran a season's best of 11.42 seconds as she won the women's 100m B final.

Long jumper Adam McMullen is getting closer to the European Championship standard of 7.95 metres

Foster, 27, equalled her Northern Ireland record of 11.40 in her earlier heat but that time was wind-assisted.

Also at Clermont, County Londonderry long jumper Adam McMullen achieved a new personal best as he won the event in 7.84m.

McMullen's distance added 0.01m to the mark he set indoors in Belgium earlier this year.

The 25-year-old's previous outdoor best was 7.77m, which he produced last year.

McMullen, who like Foster will now return home after his Florida stint, is edging towards the European Championship standard of 7.95m.