SINI sprinter Smyth, who is partially sighted and the first Paralympian to compete at these Championships, finished fourth in his semi-final in 10.46.
The race was won by France's Christophe Lemaitre in a slick 10.06 and he went on to win the gold medal.
"I am pleased because I was ranked fifth going into the race," said Smyth.
Smyth actually came in ahead of three athletes with superior personal bests.
After the semi-final Smyth was almost getting more media attention in the mixed zone than French star Lemaitre.
The Frenchman's semi-final time was .05 seconds faster than his winning time later in the evening.
Smyth was a highly creditable 14th fastest of the 24 semi-finalists and his performance will give him confidence for his Commonwealth Games challenge in October.
"I am one of the slowest round here," joked Smyth in the post-race interview mixed zone after his semi-final, after he eventually made his way to the Irish media contingent after being interviewed by TV and radio stations from all over Europe.
"Things have gone well. When you look back at the race, you always think that there are things you could have done better but I have to be happy with my performance.
"It's been a special few days - getting to the semi-finals at my first senior international championships.
"It's definitely something that I can learn a lot from and next year I will hopefully have the World Championships and then the Olympics in London in 2012."
Smyth acknowledged that his performance was tinged with a sense of what might have been, after he missed six weeks of racing over the summer because of a hamstring niggle.
"You would like to think that things might have gone a little bit better if I had been fully fit over the summer.
"I would have been doings a lot more races and would have been a bit sharper and maybe had a bit more of a competitive edge."
Article with thanks from BBC Online.
