Kate O'Connor celebrates after setting a new PB in the high jump. Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Kate O'Connor in world silver medal position after three personal bests in heptathlon

Dundalk athlete set new lifetime bests in the 100m hurdles, high jump, and 200m in Tokyo.

LAST UPDATE | 19 Sep 2025

KATE O’CONNOR IS in the silver medal position after achieving three personal bests across four events in the heptathlon event at the World Athletics Championships.

After earning PBs in the 100m hurdles and the high jump, O’Connor then ran a personal best time of 24.07 in the 200m. O’Connor was outright third coming into what is considered her weakest event of the heptathlon, having secured fifth in the shot put.

She stormed to second in 24.07 with a brilliant performance to give her a third personal best of the day, and put her in the silver medal spot on 3906 points.

World silver medallist Anna Hall of the USA dominated day one to take a commanding lead of 4154 points, while back-to-back world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain is currently in the bronze position with 3893 points.

O’Connor will compete in the long jump in the morning session at 3.30am (Irish time). In the evening session, she will conclude with the javelin at 11am and the 800m at 1.11pm.

The Dundalk multi-eventer is looking to continue her breakout season which saw her win pentathlon silver at World Indoors as well as bronze at European Indoors, followed up by heptathlon gold at the World University Games this summer.

O’Connor got her campaign underway in superb style on Friday, setting a big PB of 13.44 seconds in the 100m hurdles, finishing in eighth place, and then following that up with a PB of 1.86m to finish fourth in the high jump.

A throw of 14.37 metres was enough for fifth in the shot put phase of the heptathlon and to put her outright third after three of seven events, before her 200m PB moved her into the silver position overnight.

– Additional reporting by Gareth Lyons

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