Kate O’Connor
Kate O’Connor enjoyed a dream day at the Tallinn Combined Events meeting in Estonia today, the Dundalk multi-eventer racking up personal bests in all five disciplines to obliterate her Irish pentathlon record. The 24-year-old recorded a tally of 4683 points to come home second behind Finnish star Saga Vanninen (4843), smashing the Irish record of 4396 she set in France two years ago.
In her first multi-events competition of 2025, O’Connor started with a bang, equalling her personal best in the 60m hurdles with 8.37. The Paris Olympian then soared to new heights in the high jump, clearing 1.82m, before unleashing a throw of 14.42m in the shot put, an indoor PB.
After another PB followed in the long jump, 6.16m, O’Connor looked poised for a huge tally and she duly produced another fine effort in the concluding 800m, clocking an indoor PB of 2:13.60. Her tally of 4683 was well above the automatic qualifying standard for next month’s European Indoors in the Netherlands (4600).
The performance marks a major step forward for O’Connor, who in 2019 won European U-20 silver for Ireland in the heptathlon. She missed out on the Tokyo Olympics due to injury but under the guidance of her father Michael, her lead coach, she has continued to progress in recent years at her current base in Belfast.
Elsewhere, Darragh McElhinney got back to winning ways in Ghent on Saturday, taking victory over 1500m in 3:43.85, while Cian McPhillips finished second in the 800m in 1:48.86.