European Athletics Championships: Gold medal success in the heptathlon for Newry's Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor is basking in even more glory after claiming a gold medal at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Fresh after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland, O’Connor now has further reasons to celebrate after topping the podium with a points total of 6751.
On day one, O’Connor clocked 13.30 in the hurdles before producing a superb performance in the high jump, clearing 1.86m for the first time in her career.
She was left with work to do after an underwhelming opening two attempts in the shot put, but a final throw of 13.96m helped her climb the leaderboard.
The 25-year-old then rounded off the day with a strong 200m, crossing the line in 23.70 seconds.
However, O’Connor produced a lifetime-best performance in the long jump on Saturday morning, leaping 6.55m before following it up with an impressive 50.16m effort in the javelin to move into first place ahead of the decisive 800m.
The athlete knew she needed to finish within 3.5 seconds of Emma Oosterwegel, 4.9 seconds of Sofie Dokter and 7.3 seconds of Annik Kälin in the final event to secure gold.
Oosterwegel won the 800m in 2:10.87, but O’Connor delivered an impressive third-place finish, crossing the line less than a second behind the Dutch athlete to clinch the title.
O’Connor finished with a points total of 6751, while Oosterwegel claimed silver with 6713 points and Dokter took bronze after scoring 6660.
Speaking after claiming gold, O’Connor told RTE Sport: "When I heard cheers like that for me going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers.
"I was very conscious that there were two Dutch girls on my outside. Tactics really do come into play there so I had to make sure I got myself into a safe spot. I know some of the girls aren't afraid to bump and barge.
"I really wanted to make sure I got my spot and no one was going to ram me out of there and then it was a case of settling in and following the tactics we had set out."
O’Connor dedicated her medal to her grandmother who passed away recently, as well as praising her father and coach Michael for his assistance.
"This year has been really tough for me personally," she added to RTE Sport.
"My Granny died during the year and I don't think I give my Dad enough credit but it really hit home for him big time and the way he still turned up to training day-in, day-out because this is my dream but it's also a dream for him too and I think I have to dedicate this medal to my Granny because she was both of our biggest fans and she would have been jumping for joy if she was here to see this."