Kate ​O’Connor's Team NI pride in ‘flying the flag high for our multi-events’ at Commonwealth Games

“I think it did...probably even more so than I realised,” said O’Connor. “I won that medal and that it took me a couple of years to find my feet but whenever I won my first indoor medal in 2025 and, I suppose, went on a roll since then I really realised that that medal experience stood to me and I was able to navigate it very easily.

“Well, actually, I wouldn't say very easily...but I was able to navigate it easier because I had that previous experience.

“So, yeah, it kick-started my senior career and I'm hoping that I'll be able to turn up and do something special again.

“Birmingham was incredible...my first taste of winning a medal and that feeling is definitely addicting but I think one of the most special things was seeing how much it meant to everybody else.

“I think as athletes you can be very selfish and maybe not realise the effect that you have on other people by doing things like that and I've slowly over the years started to realise the impact that it can have on people and their lives and, I suppose, sport as well.

“I love that I'm flying the flag high for our multi-events and I hope to continue doing so and pushing the boundaries and showing little boys and girls sitting at home that it is possible.

"I was just a little girl one day watching the TV and I saw Jessica Ennis win an Olympic gold medal and I decided I was going to do the same thing and, yeah, from there my life has changed.”

O’Connor gave an insight on how you need to peak in seven events over two days across heptathlon competition.

“I think that the thing that the public don't realise, the event is obviously incredibly difficult to train for and you've got to be exceptionally good at seven events,” she said. “But one of the most difficult things is the fact that you've got to wake up so early in the morning, turn up, perform in the hurdles, then perform in the high jump, then take a break, then come back and perform again in the shot put and then perform again at the 200 and then, by that stage, it's pretty late in the evening.

“We don't generally get into bed until after 12, so we're into the next day and then expected to get up early again the next morning to perform in the long jump, to perform in the javelin and then to finally perform in the 800 metres.

“The sleeping between day one and day two is so difficult, especially when you've been taking caffeine and your adrenaline is so high.

“There's so many different aspects that come into the event that aren't actually the events that are included within the heptathlon that make the event incredibly difficult...but it's all part of it.

“I think heptathlon has a huge component of strategy to it and it's something that we've been trying to perfect over the last couple of years and I've gotten half okay at it, but there's definitely still a lot more that I could learn.”

In Tokyo last year, O’Connor claimed a silver medal at the World Championships – setting a new national record in the process.

“Insane, possibly the best couple of days of my life, I enjoyed every second of that competition,” she said. “I think whenever your body's healthy and you've put in the work, for me anyway, it's just a case of turning up and enjoying my tools I suppose that I've crafted.”