The withdrawal from the national championships of defending champion Monique Williams (Auckland), because of an Achilles tendon injury, has opened the door.
Williams has been the dominant women's sprinter in New Zealand and has won the 100m, 200m and 400m treble for the last three years.
Smythe (31), a fantasy landscape painter, has performed impressively at national level since returning home from England six years ago.
Over the past five years she has won 10 senior women's sprint medals at national events: one gold, in the 200m in 2005, six silver and three bronze.
Her best 100m time is the Otago record of 11.60sec she ran two years ago. Smythe has come close this year with the 11.62sec she ran at Melbourne early this month.
Smythe has run three other fast times this year: 11.66sec at the international meeting in Christchurch last week, 11.73sec in Wellington in January and 11.86sec in Timaru in January.
She was four times faster than Andrea Koenen (Auckland), her closest opponent, who has run 11.87sec.
Smythe, who is coached by Brent Ward, won her first New Zealand championship 100m silver medal as a 20-year-old. But niggling hamstring problems have slowed her progress.
She wanted to avoid injuries caused by running bends this season and that is why she is concentrating on the 100m.
Smythe is not expected to reach the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 11.35sec for the 100m.
Ward also works with top Otago sprinters Andrew Moore, Cory Innes and Chris Donaldson.
Moore, the defending 400m champion, has not raced much this season because of hamstring problems. But he still holds the three best times over the past 12 months.
Innes, who has won the national 400m title three times, should not be underestimated.
Donaldson (34) has won the men's 100m title five times and two years ago, at the age of 32, was the oldest sprinter to win the title. He only has an outside chance of winning the title again, but could reach the podium.
Other Otago contenders for senior titles are throwers Marshall Hall (discus) and Hannah Blair (javelin).
Hall (21), the defending champion, has a best distance of 51.39m this season and has thrown 55m in training. If he strikes the right wind he could beat Robin Tait's 1966 Otago record of 56.86m.
Hall will be competing at QE2 Park, the venue where Tait won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1974.
Training partner Kieran Fowler is ranked second-equal and looks set to join Hall on the podium in Christchurch.
Blair has a cushion of 3m over Keshia Grant (Waikato-Bay of Plenty) with her best throw this season of 50.11m. She won the silver medal last year.
Junior athletes with gold medal prospects prospects include Daniel Balchin (men's 19 3km steeplechase), Rebekah Greene (girls 16 1500m and 3000m), Roseanne Robinson (women's 19 3km track and 10km road walk).
