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Smith in foul mood after tenth-place finish

Leap of faith: Tyrone Smith fouled on two of his three attempts in the long jump final today (Photographh by Matt Dunham/AP)

Tyrone Smith failed to make the cut in the long jump final at Carrara Stadium this morning.

Smith fouled his first and final attempts, posting a leap of 7.79 metres in his second effort to finish tenth overall — two places outside the competitors who contested the final three jumps.

South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga broke the Commonwealth Games record with a huge jump of 8.41 to win gold. Henry Frayne, of Australia, placed third with a jump of 8.33. Ruswahl Samaai, of South Africa, was third with a leap of 8.22.

Smith said: “It’s pretty rough when you go in feeling good and having big expectations like I had this time. I tried to have a different approach to what I have in the past and was hoping it would pay off, but it didn’t exactly do that.”

The 34-year-old, who qualified for the final with a jump of 7.89, added: “One of the difficult things with the field events is coming back the next day and having the same amount of adrenalin and everything that you had on the first day.

“The two fouls were eight-metre jumps; I’ve got them on tape. They were good jumps, but you can’t foul. I guess it was a technical misstep on my part.

“I was reaching for the board a little bit on that first foul. I probably should have moved back a little bit. I just thought if I just concentrated on putting my foot down, it would be fine. It’s tricky; it’s a game of centimetres and both of my fouls were barely fouls. I’m definitely gutted not to be able to represent well.”

The Houston-based athlete said he still hopes to be at his fourth Olympic Games, in Tokyo in 2020.

“[Tokyo] is still on my mind,” he said. “I want to finish on a high. We’ve got the Bermuda Invitational Permit Meet in a month, CAC Games [in July] the NACAC Championships [in August] and the Pan Am Games [in Lima next year]. We’ve got the full round going again and I give myself one of two more opportunities to make this happen.”