Kate O’Connor remains firmly in the hunt for a medal in the women’s heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships, where after the long jump she lies in fourth place, with two events remaining.
Day one of the competition saw O’Connor deliver personal bests in the 100m hurdles, high jump and 200m, leaving her second overall.
The long jump, not one of her strongest events, saw her produce a best jump of 6.22m. That gained the Dundalk competitor 918 points, moving her up to 4824 points, 191 points up on where she was at this stage when setting her Irish record (6497 points) in July.
Kate O’Connor with her best jump of 6.22m in the long jump – she is now fourth overall with two events left in the heptathlon #rtesport
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Anna Hall from the USA has maintained her position at the head of the field on 5041 points, with her compatriot Taliyah Brooks now second on 4930 points and the defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson third on 4874.
The penultimate event is the javelin, which begins at 11am Irish time. It’s one of O’Connor’s favoured events and she will look to remain in contention ahead of the closing 800m (1.11pm), where the destination of the medals is likely to be decided.
Longford’s Cian McPhillips goes in the men’s 800m final at 2.22pm, with the women’s 4x400m relay team lining up in heat two of their semi-final at 12.11pm.
Watch coverage of today’s action from Tokyo on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 11.00pm