{"id":593069,"date":"2026-08-14T13:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/593069\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:50:09","slug":"kate-oconnor-moves-into-silver-medal-spot-after-two-personal-bests-in-heptathlon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/593069\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate O\u2019Connor moves into silver medal spot after two personal bests in heptathlon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A superb series of high jumps has shot Kate O\u2019Connor<\/a> up into second place in the heptathlon at the close of Friday\u2019s morning session at the European Athletics Championships<\/a> in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The Dundalk woman cleared a best height of 1.86 metres on her third attempt, equalling her lifetime best from last year. She came up short in her three efforts at 1.89m, but still finished joint-first in the event, earning herself 1,054 points. She now sits second overall on 2,134 points, one shy of Poland\u2019s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert in first.<\/p>\n

In front of a strong Irish support, O\u2019Connor showed all her competitive spirit with a series of first-time clearances, starting at 1.68m. Sulek-Schubert also cleared a best of 1.86m.<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s Annik Kalin, one of O\u2019Connor\u2019s main rivals, could only manage 1.71m, well off her best of 1.81m, dropping her down to fourth. Dutch medal hope Sofie Dokter also went out on 1.74m, allowing O\u2019Connor to make up considerable ground, on course to break her own Irish record. <\/p>\n

Earlier, O\u2019Connor set a new lifetime best over the 100 metres hurdles, clocking 13.30, leaving her in 11th place after that first event. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done so much work on my hurdles,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cAnd my opening hurdles [at the Commonwealth Games] I definitely wasn\u2019t happy with. But today was a little better, a PB. I still think there\u2019s definitely a lot more there. But it was a good start. <\/p>\n

\u201cStarting off strong with people like that keeps the head in the right place for high jump. And I\u2019m delighted. I thought 1.89m was there on that last attempt, and I believe I can jump it. It\u2019ll maybe come another day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 1.86m, I haven\u2019t jumped that since last year in Tokyo, so I can\u2019t complain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the strong Irish support O\u2019Connor said: \u201cOh my God, it was insane. I\u2019m still too nervous to get a clap going but maybe at some stage, in the long jump. Now I\u2019ll get home, rest, recover, chill out. I\u2019m looking forward to this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day one continues at 7.35pm with the shot put, then at 8.55pm, with the 200m.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Coscoran during the heats of the men’s 1,500m. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Andrew Coscoran<\/a> called on all his speed and tactical nuance to take fourth in his heat of the men\u2019s 1,500m, putting himself comfortably into Saturday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Dubliner imposed himself on the race from the start knowing only the top six would progress, sitting in third at the bell. Despite losing a little ground around the top bend, Coscoran kicked hard down the homestretch, clocking 3:41.86 for fourth.<\/p>\n

But it all went wrong for Cathal Doyle in the opening 1,500m heat when he fell with 600m to run, Spain\u2019s Carlos Saez also hitting the track. Doyle managed to finish the race, allowing him the chance to lodge an appeal but it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sick of this now,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cThis is the second Europeans now in-a-row, I get the same stuff every time, \u2018Ah, he puts himself in that position\u2019. I didn\u2019t deserve that at all. My plan was to stay in the top six all the time. I realised that at the important part, was starting to move up, and sure there is nothing I can do. I am sick of everyone saying, \u2018Aw, he put himself in the wrong position\u2019. I didn\u2019t do anything wrong. <\/p>\n

\u201cBit of a trip there [with 700m to go], but it was fine, rally on. The other one, you didn\u2019t get a chance to think, and you were gone. It is just annoying, it is not my fault. The last time I fell I feel I was blamed for putting myself in that position, but I didn\u2019t do anything wrong. It is just embarrassing jogging around [after the fall].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Cathal Doyle with Carlos Saez of Spain after he fell during the 1,500m heats. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s 4x400m relay, the Irish quartet of Andrew Egan, Jack Raftery, Joe Doody and Sean Doggett finished a close fifth in their heat, clocking 3:01.76. The Netherlands took the heat win in 3:00.98. <\/p>\n

Although Ireland originally finished sixth, they were bumped up a place after France were disqualified, but their overall 10th left them outside the top-eight finish required to make the final.<\/p>\n

And in the women\u2019s 4x400m relay heats, Ireland finished a distant eighth in the heats, clocking 3:32.70. Without Rhasidat Adeleke following her silver-medal performance in the women\u2019s 200m on Thursday night, and the injured Sharlene Mawdsley, the quartet of Sophie Becker, Jenna Breen, Cliodhna Manning and Arlene Crossan could only manage 15th overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A superb series of high jumps has shot Kate O\u2019Connor up into second place in the heptathlon at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20482,163615,42,14940,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-593069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andrew-coscoran","tag-european-athletics-championships","tag-headlines","tag-kate-o-connor","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593069","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=593069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}