Kate O'Connor still on track to win heptathlon medal after 'solid' long jump
Kate O'Connor fouled on her opening opening effort in the long jump putting her under pressure with subsequent attempts but she did manage to leap 6.22m. Pic: by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Kate O’Connor is firmly on track to win Ireland its first ever global outdoor medal in the multi-events after another strong performance in the long jump at the World Championships in Tokyo this morning.
In the fifth of seven events in the heptathlon, the Dundalk athlete had a best of 6.22m, which saw her drop from second to fourth in the standings on 4824 points. Given the long jump is one of O'Connor's weaker events, that was expected and with the javelin to come next, she’ll likely push back up into the medal positions before the concluding 800m.
Out front and looking unstoppable in the race for gold is Anna Hall on 5041 points, while fellow US athlete Taliyah Brooks has moved up to second on 4930 points after a PB of 6.79m in the long jump. Britain's reigning world champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, now sits third on 4874, 40 points ahead of O'Connor, but the Irishwoman has a significantly stronger javelin and should build a decent lead on her British rival ahead of the 800m.
O’Connor’s javelin best this year is 51.87m, while Johnson-Thompson has only thrown 41.98m – which equates to a difference of 191 points. It's likely that O'Connor will end up in a race for silver with Johnson-Thompson and she will be keen to utilise the javelin to build as big of an advantage as possible ahead of the 800m, where Johnson-Thompson has a much quicker PB. The 2:04.90 the Briton ran at the Olympics last year equates to an 83-second point advantage over O’Connor’s PB of 2:10.46, with each second in the 800m worth about 14-15 points.
Brooks, meanwhile, has a best of 43.27m in the javelin and 2:13.22 in the 800m so if she and O’Connor produce similar efforts in their final two events, the Irishwoman will make up over 200 points on the American. She currently trails her by 106.
One of O’Connor’s major rivals in the medal battle, Nafi Thiam of Belgium, withdrew from the competition after a disastrous long jump which saw the Olympic champion drop to eighth place overall.
O'Connor's current tally is a whopping 191 points up on where she was after five events when setting the Irish heptathlon record (6497) earlier this season and she's on track to challenge the 6,700-point barrier.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” she said of her long jump. “Solid is the word I would use. It wasn't great, it wasn't too bad. I had a really good first jump but I broke slightly. But my run-up was a little all over the place so to have got a half-decent jump in, I'm pretty happy.”
O'Connor had fouled her first attempt, which left her under huge pressure to produce a mark in round two – with only three jumps allowed in the heptathlon.
“The nerves go from zero to a hundred just because if you foul the second one then you're in a bit of a pickle,” she said. “So it was really important to get that second one in and it was nice to get an extra couple of centimetres in the third.”
O’Connor said she's “really looking forward” to the final two events today, with the javelin set for 11am Irish time. She will close out the heptathlon with the 800m at 1:11pm, where she will have the chance to win Ireland its first world outdoor medal in 12 years.
Meanwhile, Cian McPhillips is also a huge medal threat in the 800m. The Longford athlete will toe the line for the final at 2:22pm.
Ireland will also be represented in women's 4x400m heats, the quartet going to the line at 12:11pm. They will likely be in contention for one of the two non-automatic qualifying positions, with a difficult heat draw and only the top three to advance automatically.
Kate O’Connor, heptathlon javelin
Women’s 4x400m relay heats
Kate O’Connor, heptathlon 800m
Cian McPhillips, men’s 800m final
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