Tyrone Smith has challenged himself to make 2014 better than his 2013 season as he prepares for a host of events in the coming months.

Rating his season as bittersweet, the long jumper has vowed to come back stronger from a season that saw more than its fair share of ups and downs.

Smith is currently in Bermuda and, along with Arantxa King, is hosting a jump clinic for young athletes at the National Sports Centre.

“It was a bit of a hit and miss season last year, I had a bit of success in the fact that I hit eight metres a few times and winning some meets was good,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“With that being said I wasn’t happy with not reaching the finals at the World Championships, so it wasn’t a successful in that sense.”

Smith hit his form late in the season, winning the gold medal at the Amsterdam Flame Games in the Netherlands.

The Bermuda Olympian took top honours with a leap of 7.82 metres at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.

That performance followed a disappointing showing at the World Athletics Championships in Russia where he failed to reach the final.

He also placed fourth at the IAAF DN Galan Diamond League meet in Sweden before going one better to claim the bronze medal with a leap of 7.76 metres at the Gugl Games meet in Linz, Austria shortly after.

Heading into the new season, Smith has pinpointed next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, a competition in which he finished fifth three years ago, posting a leap of 7.76 metres in New Delhi in India.

The event was won by Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre who jumped 8.30 metres.

The World Indoor Championships is also on the list of events for the long jumper.

With only a few more weeks of relaxation left before the grind of preseason training, Smith says he’s ready to put in the work to get the results he has set for himself.

“I go back to training in a few weeks and then we go to the World Indoor Championships in Poland, and then after that the main focus is the Commonwealth Games and that is where we want to be peaking.

“Everything else after this moment is icing on the cake but Commonwealth is the main goal at the moment.

“I think I’m going to do much better, so with the training picking up in the near future, it will be fun to see how the season shapes up.”

In the meantime, the Athlete of Year is back on local soil helping the next generation of jumpers.

“It feels great to be back and to give back to the country through the camp and give all the knowledge I can to the next jumpers coming through.

“When I retire I want to be able to see someone else coming through and think that I have helped them in some way.”