‘It was mine to lose,’ said Kate O’Connor, who secured gold in the heptathlon at the European Championships in Birmingham. The Newry-born 25-year-old said her late grandmother ‘would have been jumping for joy’ at the result.
Entering the final event, the 800m, O’Connor held a 51-point lead over her nearest challenger, Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands. To seal the overall victory, O’Connor needed to finish within 3.4 seconds of the Dutch athlete. She crossed the line in 2:11.74, placing third behind Sveva Gerevini of Italy, while Oosterwegel won the heat in 2:10.87.
This performance earned O’Connor a total of 6,751 points, establishing a new national record. Oosterwegel took silver with 6,713 points, and Netherlands’ Sofie Dokter claimed bronze with 6,664 points. This success builds upon the gold O’Connor won at the Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland in July and her silver at last year’s World Championships.
‘A couple of years ago, I probably wouldn’t have thought this would happen to me,’ O’Connor told RTE Sport. She reflected on the difficulty of the journey, noting that while she has won medals, the pressure increases with every competition. ‘I know there’s been medals [won], but there is an increase in pressure with every competition, so each has been different to try and navigate that and this competition has been no different.’
The athlete shared the personal challenges she faced this year, stating, ‘This year has been really tough from outside – my granny died earlier this year and I don’t think I give my dad enough credit, but it hit home for him and the way he turned up to training day-in and day-out.’ She added, ‘This is my dream, but it’s his dream too and I have to dedicate this medal to my granny because she was both of our biggest fans.’
O’Connor entered the second day of competition in third place, trailing overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert by 42 points. Her strong start on Friday included personal bests in the 100m hurdles (13.30s) and 200m (23.79s), alongside a 1.86m clearance in the high jump and a 13.96m shot put throw.
Her momentum continued on Saturday morning with a 6.55m leap in the long jump and a 50.16m throw in the javelin, bringing her total to 5,812 points. This put her 51 points ahead of Oosterwegel, as Sulek-Schubert dropped to seventh place following a difficult start to the day.
During the decisive 800m race, O’Connor initially led before Oosterwegel took the initiative. O’Connor remained close to the Dutch athlete, and despite Gerevini’s charge, she maintained her pace to secure the gold. ‘That was the most nerve-racking 800 of my life,’ O’Connor admitted, adding that the cheers from Irish supporters helped her stay focused.
In other events, Andrew Coscoran secured a fourth medal for Ireland in Birmingham, taking bronze in the 1500m with a time of 3:36.24. Despite dropping to seventh at one point, he surged late to edge out Great Britain’s Jake Heyward. ‘That’s a product of a lot of work over the years,’ Coscoran told RTE Sport. ‘I’ve been working so hard for this for so long.’
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished 21st overall after placing last in her 800m heat. The 33-year-old Olympic silver medallist, who has struggled with fitness, noted, ‘It is obviously far from my best. Not the competition I would have wanted, but in a way it is. I finished.’
Johnson-Thompson, a former world champion, emphasized the importance of completing the event despite her lack of preparation. ‘As a heptathlete it is not easy to come into a competition not in shape. You can’t get knocked out in a heat and go home. It was important to me that I finished.’
Meanwhile, GB team-mate Jade O’Dowda finished 13th with 6,191 points after placing fifth in the first heat of the 800m. The competition in Birmingham concluded with a strong showing for Irish athletics, highlighted by O’Connor’s record-breaking performance and Coscoran’s podium finish.
O’Connor entered day two in third place after four events, 42 points behind overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert, after personal bests in the 100m hurdles (13.30secs) and 200m (23.79) on Friday.
“I had a job to do and I know I’ve had quite a few jobs to do over these last few days – some I’ve executed and some I haven’t.
“I did want to win the race, but with 50 metres to go I knew I had enough in me to stay within the three seconds and I just wanted to leave here injury-free and with a gold medal around my neck.”
“I was so nervous before that run, but when I hear cheers like that for me [from the Irish support] going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers.
Johnson-Thompson, the world champion in 2019 and 2023, entered Saturday 324 points off the pace in 16th and continued to struggle.
I wanted to do it for them [coaching team and physiotherapist] as we worked so hard to be here.
“I have been coming here since English schools.
The Dubliner dropped to seventh at one stage in a thrilling race, but managed to find another kick to surge into third with a time of 3:36.24 for his first major outdoor medal, edging GB’s Jake Heyward into fourth.
Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands took gold with Sweden’s Samuel Pihlstrom claiming silver.
“A lot of strength work, a lot of speed work – it eventually paid off.
