DUNDALK’S KATE O’CONNOR has won Ireland’s first-ever international heptathlon medal after securing silver at the European U20 Athletics Championships.
18-year-old O’Connor etched her name into Irish athletics history in Boras, Sweden, racking up a points total of 6093 and breaking her own national senior record by 212 points in the process.
It’s been an outstanding journey for the St Gerard’s star in the seven-event contest, in which she produced outstanding performances and broke records all around her.
It's a huge throw from @kateoc2000 in the heptathlon javelin! 😱 pic.twitter.com/Gg5SbTXeAW
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 19, 2019
In her final two outings this afternoon, she broke the Irish U20 and U23 javelin record with a monster 52.92m throw — smashing her personal best by 3.61m.
Sitting in the bronze medal position approaching the 800m, O’Connor battled emphatically in the pouring rain to finish third.
What an INCREDIBLE conclusion to the heptathlon in #Boras2019! 🙌@MVicentePodium runs the 800m of her life in the pouring rain to win the European U20 title in a Spanish record of 6115 points. 🥇 pic.twitter.com/nJjUCxQRu1
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 19, 2019
Subsequently, she ended up second overall to take silver on the podium.
O’Connor now takes Ireland’s first medal in any multi-event discipline since Barry Walsh won decathlon bronze at this level in 1987.
Spain’s Maria Vicente landed gold with a points total of 6115 while Switzerland’s Annik Kalin was third overall, clocking 6069.
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