{"id":359346,"date":"2026-03-22T13:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359346\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T13:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:14:09","slug":"kate-oconnor-up-to-bronze-medal-position-in-pentathlon-at-the-world-indoor-championships-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359346\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate O\u2019Connor up to bronze medal position in pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another calm and composed performance by Kate O\u2019Connor<\/a> in the high jump moved her into the bronze medal position after the opening two pentathlon events on the final day of the World Indoor Championships<\/a> in Torun, Poland.<\/p>\n

A critical clearance at her third attempt at 1.81m keeps O\u2019Connor in contention for a podium spot. She now sits on 2,068 points, behind the clearly in-form Sophie Dokter from the Netherlands (2,153) and gold medal favourite Anna Hall from the US (2,117).<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor displayed plenty of her irrepressibly competitive style, clearing her opening height of 1.69m on the first attempt, settling any early nerves. She followed that with another first-time clearance of 1.72.<\/p>\n

Moving to 1.75m, O\u2019Connor clipped the bar on her first attempt \u2013 right after Hall had soared clear. No problem for O\u2019Connor on her second attempt. So to 1.78m, O\u2019Connor impressing again with another first-time clearance \u2013 right after Hall did the same.<\/p>\n

Then came two failures at 1.81m, O\u2019Connor slightly adjusting her run-up for her final attempt at that height, moving some ground wiring out of her way, and clearly willing herself over that height. Delighted with it too.<\/p>\n

Unsuccessful at her three attempts at 1.84m, O\u2019Connor finished equal third in that event, so moving up to third overall on 2,068 points. Hall and Dokter both cleared 1.84, before Dokter went one height better again, clearing 1.87m, the Dutch athlete showing her very best form so far.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Kate O\u2019Connor in action in the Pentathlon 60m Hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Earlier, O\u2019Connor\u2019s fifth place in the 60 metres hurdles had left her in joint fourth position overall. Drawn in the same race and in the adjacent lane to Hall from the US, O\u2019Connor blasted out of the blocks and kept herself right in contention, nailing fifth in 8.23 seconds \u2013 just off her recent lifetime best of 8.21 seconds, set at last month\u2019s National Indoor Championships.<\/p>\n

Hall took the win in 8.18, in a near blanket finish, O\u2019Connor given the same time as Beatrice Juskeviciute from Lithuania, leaving them both on 1,077 points at that stage. Dokter also got off to a flying start there, running a lifetime best of 8.19.<\/p>\n

Next up for the 13-women field inside Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun is the shot out (12.21pm Irish time), where O\u2019Connor will be looking to reinforce her podium position in the third of three morning events \u2013 before the long jump and the 800m in the evening.<\/p>\n

Also in Sunday\u2019s first session, Sarah Lavin missed out on qualification from her heats of the 60m hurdles, finishing fifth in her heat in 8.08 seconds. Starting in lane eight, in the first of six heats, Lavin couldn\u2019t quite get herself in contention, World champion Ditaji Kambundi from Switzerland winning in 7.84 seconds. <\/p>\n

Only the top three progressed automatically, plus the sixth fastest non-qualifying times, and Lavin\u2019s 8.08, short of her lifetime best of 7.90, was never going to be enough. The 31-year-old had made two World Indoor finals before, and Lavin didn\u2019t conceal her disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lost for words, I wish I could tell you why exactly, I was sloppy,\u201d said Lavin. \u201cI didn\u2019t run fast enough, which is the bottom line. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve come to a championship and gone out the first round ever. So obviously, I\u2019m incredibly disappointed. I wouldn\u2019t have come here unless I thought I could push for a final, that\u2019s where I\u2019ve been, and that\u2019s where I belong. Obviously I\u2019ll take full ownership for it, I\u2019m very disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

More to follow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another calm and composed performance by Kate O\u2019Connor in the high jump moved her into the bronze medal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,14940,43,40,38,41,39,161450],"class_list":["post-359346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-kate-o-connor","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-world-athletics-indoor-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}