O’Connor trails by 42 points after mixed heptathlon day one
Kate O'Connor sits third in the standings behind Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert as the competition moves to Saturday’s final events.
Ireland’s Kate O’Connor has finished day one of the women’s heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with mixed emotions, trailing the current leader by 42 points. The 25-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medallist recorded personal bests in the 100m hurdles and high jump, but a struggle in the shot put left her in third place on 3968 points.
Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert leads the standings, with Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands in second, 24 points behind the leader. O’Connor’s day began with a personal best of 13.30 seconds in the 100m hurdles, finishing 11th overall. She equalled her personal best of 1.86m in the high jump, a mark also achieved by Sulek-Schubert.
The momentum shifted during the shot put, where O’Connor fouled on her second attempt before recording a throw of 13.96m, finishing fourth in her heat. Reflecting on the performance, the Newry-born athlete attributed the difficulty to a loss of confidence following the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, noting she knows she is capable of throwing 14 to 15 metres.
O’Connor responded strongly in the evening session, recording a personal best of 23.79 seconds in the 200m to finish third in her heat. This performance allowed her to edge out Sulek-Schubert on the line and narrow the overall points gap. She described the result as putting herself back on track despite the earlier setback.
Other Irish athletes saw varied results across the championships. Andrew Coscoran secured his place in the men’s 1500m final with a time of 3:41.86, while Cathal Doyle lodged an unsuccessful appeal after falling in his heat. Both the Irish men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams failed to advance to their respective finals.
The heptathlon competition resumes on Saturday with the long jump and javelin in the morning session, followed by the concluding 800m in the evening. O’Connor remains focused on rectifying her shot put issues and delivering consistent performances in the remaining events.
