{"id":638800,"date":"2026-08-15T15:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/638800\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T15:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:03:18","slug":"kate-oconnor-in-heptathlon-gold-medal-position-with-one-event-left-at-european-championships-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/638800\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate O\u2019Connor in heptathlon gold medal position with one event left at European Championships \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate O\u2019Connor<\/a> is within touching distance of the gold medal in the heptathlon at the European Championship<\/a> after another strong performance in the javelin, propelling herself into first place with just the 800m to come.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor produced a best throw of 50.16m in the first round, bringing her overall tally to 5,812 points \u2013 51 points clear of rival Emma Oosterwegel from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

That gives O\u2019Connor plenty of breathing space going into the 800m on Saturday evening, set for 7.45pm. Although Oosterwegel does have the faster personal best over 800m, she would need to beat O\u2019Connor by more than three seconds to leap above her and into the gold medal position. <\/p>\n

Oosterwegel is currently on 5,761 points, with the other Dutch medal hope Sofie Dokter third on 5,707, 105 points off O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

The Dundalk 25-year-old ran a superb 800m when she won gold at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. If she can come close to her personal best of 2:09.56, set when winning silver at the World Championships last year, the gold medal will surely be hers. She\u2019s also on course to smash her Irish record of 6,714 points.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0European Athletics and Swimming Championships: Complete guide to the Irish in actionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The javelin is considered O\u2019Connor\u2019s best event, and although her 50.16 was short of her personal best of 53.06, it was plenty good to put her in pole position. Earlier on Saturday, she also a personal best in the long jump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling pretty positive, I\u2019m in a strong enough position,\u201d she said. \u201cNow it\u2019s just time to rest, relax and think tactics in a couple of hours. I\u2019m happy with my long jump. Javelin, I was trying to navigate the winds, but I can\u2019t really make any excuses, I just didn\u2019t execute well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a healthy-ish lead, but I\u2019ll have a job to do later. It\u2019s going to be really stiff, I knew that coming in here. I think I\u2019ve given myself every opportunity to do what I came here to do, I\u2019ve just got one more event to go to try to do it. I\u2019ll give it my all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Irish 4x100m relay team celebrate their progression to the finals. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

There were also two excellent Irish performances in the heats of the 4x100m relays, as both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s quartets booked their place in Saturday night\u2019s finals, the latter setting a new national record of 43.13 in the process. Lucy-May Sleeman, Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy and Lauren Roy earned fourth in their heat after a series of slick baton exchanges. The expectation is that Rhasidat Adeleke<\/a> will swap in for one of the legs in the final, boosting their medal chances.<\/p>\n

Then came the Irish men\u2019s foursome of Toluwabori Akinola, Se\u00e1n Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde<\/a>, who finished sixth overall in a season best of 39.13 seconds. It\u2019s the first time Ireland will have teams in two 4x100m relay finals at the same championships.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s 1,500m heats, Sarah Healy<\/a> and Sophie O\u2019Sullivan<\/a> both impressed to qualify for Sunday\u2019s final, taking second and fifth respectively.<\/p>\n

Healy was back on the track four days after her fourth-place finish in the 5,000m. Returning to her specialist event, she ran a composed race, moving into second coming down the home stretch to finish alongside Portugal\u2019s Patricia Silva, who clocked 4:08.10 to Healy\u2019s 4:08.12.<\/p>\n

\"SophieSophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy after the 1,500m semi-final. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan did have to work a little harder down the homestretch to move into fifth, having lost some ground around the top bend. Both Irish women look well capable of getting into the medal mix on Sunday night. Jodie McCann, meanwhile, was 26th overall, running 4:14.63 to miss out on a spot in the final.<\/p>\n

Although Healy briefly lost her stride in the first lap, she quickly recovered: \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened and my face looked at the floor for a second, but I stayed on two feet,\u201d she said. \u201cI was definitely worried about [the last 100m] having done a 5K a few days ago but today I felt great on that last lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took two days to recover and initially, it was a lot of frustration and annoyance at myself. But then I started to look at it as, I\u2019ve had far worse results than fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Friday, David Kenny finished sixth in the half-marathon race walk. The Kerryman was in medal contention through the first half of the race, finishing in a personal best time of 1:24.45. Oisin Lane also performed admirably to finish 11th in 1:27.09, also a personal best.<\/p>\n

The gold medal was won by Spain\u2019s Paul McGrath \u2013 who has a Scottish father, a Spanish mother and Irish grandparents \u2013 in 1:23.23.<\/p>\n

Saturday evening session – Irish in action<\/p>\n