KATE O’CONNOR IS among the leading medal contenders representing Team Ireland at the European Athletics Championships.
All eyes on Mark English and Rhasidat Adeleke first on Thursday night, but fresh off her Commonwealth Games gold, multi-event star O’Connor is targeting another podium in Birmingham.
The Women’s Heptathlon moves into focus on Friday and Saturday at Alexander Stadium, with the 100m Hurdles (10.35am), High Jump (11.25am), Shot Put (7.35pm) and 200m (8.55pm) down for decision on Friday, and the Long Jump (10.25am), Javelin (11.55am) and 800m (7.45pm) scheduled for Saturday.
With three-time champion Nafissatou Thiam from Belgium ruled out with a hamstring injury, the Women’s Heptathlon will have a new gold medallist for the first time since 2016.
O’Connor will be aiming for the top prize as she looks to continue a dream few months of medals, records and history. Here, The 42 looks at some of her main rivals.
*****
Annik Kälin (Switzerland)
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World lead: Annik Kälin. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
O’Connor may be ranked number one in Europe, but Kälin holds the world lead with 6,819 points. (O’Connor’s season’s best is 6,569 – set in testing conditions at the Commonwealth Games – and her Irish record is 6,714.)
The Swiss 26-year-old has been in a rich vein of form, hitting that lifetime best at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Ratingen, Germany, in June, having won the prestigious Götzis Hypo-Meeting with 6,726 points the previous month.
These are the two highest scores of the entries in 2026 to date, her Long Jump and 100m Hurdles particular strengths. The 12.60 seconds Kälin clocked in the latter in Ratingen was just 0.06 off Jessica Ennis-Hill’s world heptathlon record from the 2012 Olympics.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Great Britain)
World bronze medallist: Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
There are question marks over Johnson-Thompson’s fitness ahead of this home championships. The two-time world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist withdrew from the Commonwealth Games due to injury, relinquishing the crown O’Connor later won.
Limited to just one Shot Put competition so far this year, Johnson-Thompson may be lacking in recent competition but will lean on experience and nous. The jumps and 200m are considered her strongest and highest-scoring events, with her personal best of 6,981 points the highest in the field. O’Connor bested the 33-year-old at World Championships in Tokyo last September, and will hope to do so again in Birmingham.
Emma Oosterwegel (Netherlands)
Dutch duo: Emma Oosterwegel. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
One half of a high-flying Dutch duo, Oosterwegel recently improved her lifetime best to 6,705 points after finishing second to Kälin in Götzis. Like O’Connor, the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist gathers serious momentum in the Javelin with her personal best 55.47m (O’Connor’s is 53.06m, for comparison.)
Before Thiam, the last European outdoor champion hailed from the Netherlands: Anouk Vetter took gold in 2016. Could this be a good omen for Oosterwegel and her teammate Sofie Dokter?
Dokter is the reigning World Indoor Pentathlon champion, having shared a podium with O’Connor in Touruń in March. She beat outdoor supremo Anna Hall of the USA to win her first international title, with O’Connor taking bronze.
The 23-year-old was third behind Kälin and Oosterwegel in Götzis in May, where she set her career-best mark of 6,627. Favouring jumps, the Javelin is one of Dokter’s weakest disciplines so Oosterwegel and O’Connor have the edge there.
Noor Vidts (Belgium)
Belgian representative: Noor Vidts. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
With Thiam absent, Vidts is flying the Belgian flag. Bronze medallist from the last Europeans in Rome in 2024, the 30-year-old is returning from a hamstring injury herself.
One of 13 to have broken the 6,300 barrier this year, Vidts may be more of an outside shot in a stacked field. German trio Sophie Weissenberg, Vanessa Grimm and Sandrina Sprengel, Italian record-holder Sveva Gerevini, and Poland’s Adrianna Sułek-Schubert, are others who could be in the mix across two days of thrills and spills.
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World lead, home hero, Dutch duo: Kate O'Connor's European heptathlon rivals
KATE O’CONNOR IS among the leading medal contenders representing Team Ireland at the European Athletics Championships.
All eyes on Mark English and Rhasidat Adeleke first on Thursday night, but fresh off her Commonwealth Games gold, multi-event star O’Connor is targeting another podium in Birmingham.
The Women’s Heptathlon moves into focus on Friday and Saturday at Alexander Stadium, with the 100m Hurdles (10.35am), High Jump (11.25am), Shot Put (7.35pm) and 200m (8.55pm) down for decision on Friday, and the Long Jump (10.25am), Javelin (11.55am) and 800m (7.45pm) scheduled for Saturday.
With three-time champion Nafissatou Thiam from Belgium ruled out with a hamstring injury, the Women’s Heptathlon will have a new gold medallist for the first time since 2016.
O’Connor will be aiming for the top prize as she looks to continue a dream few months of medals, records and history. Here, The 42 looks at some of her main rivals.
*****
Annik Kälin (Switzerland)
O’Connor may be ranked number one in Europe, but Kälin holds the world lead with 6,819 points. (O’Connor’s season’s best is 6,569 – set in testing conditions at the Commonwealth Games – and her Irish record is 6,714.)
The Swiss 26-year-old has been in a rich vein of form, hitting that lifetime best at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting in Ratingen, Germany, in June, having won the prestigious Götzis Hypo-Meeting with 6,726 points the previous month.
These are the two highest scores of the entries in 2026 to date, her Long Jump and 100m Hurdles particular strengths. The 12.60 seconds Kälin clocked in the latter in Ratingen was just 0.06 off Jessica Ennis-Hill’s world heptathlon record from the 2012 Olympics.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Great Britain)
There are question marks over Johnson-Thompson’s fitness ahead of this home championships. The two-time world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist withdrew from the Commonwealth Games due to injury, relinquishing the crown O’Connor later won.
Limited to just one Shot Put competition so far this year, Johnson-Thompson may be lacking in recent competition but will lean on experience and nous. The jumps and 200m are considered her strongest and highest-scoring events, with her personal best of 6,981 points the highest in the field. O’Connor bested the 33-year-old at World Championships in Tokyo last September, and will hope to do so again in Birmingham.
Emma Oosterwegel (Netherlands)
One half of a high-flying Dutch duo, Oosterwegel recently improved her lifetime best to 6,705 points after finishing second to Kälin in Götzis. Like O’Connor, the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist gathers serious momentum in the Javelin with her personal best 55.47m (O’Connor’s is 53.06m, for comparison.)
Before Thiam, the last European outdoor champion hailed from the Netherlands: Anouk Vetter took gold in 2016. Could this be a good omen for Oosterwegel and her teammate Sofie Dokter?
Sofie Dokter (Netherlands)
Dokter is the reigning World Indoor Pentathlon champion, having shared a podium with O’Connor in Touruń in March. She beat outdoor supremo Anna Hall of the USA to win her first international title, with O’Connor taking bronze.
The 23-year-old was third behind Kälin and Oosterwegel in Götzis in May, where she set her career-best mark of 6,627. Favouring jumps, the Javelin is one of Dokter’s weakest disciplines so Oosterwegel and O’Connor have the edge there.
Noor Vidts (Belgium)
With Thiam absent, Vidts is flying the Belgian flag. Bronze medallist from the last Europeans in Rome in 2024, the 30-year-old is returning from a hamstring injury herself.
One of 13 to have broken the 6,300 barrier this year, Vidts may be more of an outside shot in a stacked field. German trio Sophie Weissenberg, Vanessa Grimm and Sandrina Sprengel, Italian record-holder Sveva Gerevini, and Poland’s Adrianna Sułek-Schubert, are others who could be in the mix across two days of thrills and spills.
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