'I was able to relax and enjoy the competition' - bonus territory as O’Connor clinches historic silver

The Dundalk athlete backed up her European Indoor performance.

JOB DONE: Silver medalist Kate O'Connor, of Ireland, poses on the podium of the pentathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. Pic: AP Photo/Vincent Thian

For much of the past two weeks, Kate O’Connor wondered if she could really do it all again. If she could come down off the high of that European Indoor medal, recharge, reload, and fire herself back to an even bigger summit.

And in Nanjing, China, yesterday, she did just that. The 24-year-old Dundalk athlete produced another polished, near-perfect display to win pentathlon silver at the World Indoor Championships, the first ever global medal for Ireland in the multi-events and the first World Indoor medal for 19 years.