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Overseas form must improve, says jumper Tyrone

Tyrone Smith was left disappointed with his latest performance in Tarta, Estonia, after failing to reach his goal of jumping eight metres.The long jumper, who aims to use the indoor season as a springboard for the London Olympic Games, finished second with a leap of 7.82 metres, with the winner recording a leap of 7.87 metres at the weekend.While a silver medal would satisfy most, Smith is demanding more from himself with the World Indoor Championships, in Turkey, and the London Games on the horizon.“To be honest, I’m not very happy with my performances overseas,” said Smith, “I had four meets and I failed to break 26 feet or 8 metres.“There are still a few bugs in my approach and take off and I’m really working hard to get them fixed before the World Indoor Championships.“The whole point of going over to Europe was to work out any issues before the Worlds so for that purpose the trip was successful in showing me what needs to be fixed before we can be successful over 8 metres.“I head back to Europe on Thursday for two final meets before the World Championships and I know that I will see some improvements, as an experienced long jumper I know that it’s only a matter of time before I put all the pieces of the puzzle together.“When I do I know that there will be some surprised faces out there.”Smith claimed gold at the Leonard Hilton Invitational at the University of Houston with a jump of 7.66 metres two weeks ago.The Male Athlete of the Year followed up that performance with a fourth-place finish at a meet in Bordeaux, France, with a leap of 7.81m.It is unclear whether his latest mark is a national indoor record as the Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) don’t have official indoor records.“I actually was not aware of what the Bermuda indoor national record was so I was surprised when I saw the results from the meet and it had a ‘NR’ next to my result,” said Smith.“It’s always good to have a record but my personal best is much further, so I won’t be happy until I put the record over 8.2 metres.”Although BTFA president Donna Watson couldn’t confirm the record, she believes Smith will discover his top form at the World Championships in March.“Unfortunately we do not have any indoor records but with our athletes competing so much indoors we will probably start keeping track of them,” said Watson.“Tyrone continues to improve with each competition leading up to the World Indoor Championships, so we are anxious to see how he gets on.”