Kate O’Connor claims heptathlon gold at the Commonwealth Games

GOLD STANDARD: Kate O’Connor has maintained her medal-winning streak by claiming heptathlon gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Pic: ©INPHO.

Kate O’Connor has maintained her medal-winning streak by claiming heptathlon gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the 25-year-old racking up 6569 points to finish clear of England’s Jade O’Dowda (6278), whose brother is Ireland international Callum, and Australia’s Tori West (6104).

The Dundalk athlete – who was born in Newry, which qualifies her to represent Northern Ireland – was a class apart across the two-day event in wet, cool conditions, her tally unsurprisingly a little down on her Irish record of 6714, which she set in Tokyo last year.

“It was tough weather a lot of this competition and I came in hoping I would do a huge score,” she said. “I’ve done all the training to do that but yesterday made me realise it’s not about scoring, it’s about winning medals. I really enjoyed today, enjoyed all the performances and I got a gold.”

It’s the sixth consecutive championship medal for O’Connor in multi-events, a run that began in March last year when she won pentathlon bronze at the European Indoors followed by silver at the World Indoors.

Last July she won heptathlon gold at the World University Games followed by her biggest achievement to date: a silver at the Tokyo World Championships. O’Connor won bronze at the World Indoors in Poland in March and this was her first victory at the Commonwealths, having taken silver in 2022.

She put down a strong first day on Tuesday to assume command, clocking 13.54 in the 100m hurdles and clearing 1.82m in the high jump.

But she surrendered the lead after the shot put, O’Connor managing a best of 12.85m during a deluge – well off her PB of 14.70m. She bounced back well in the 200m, clocking 24.14 (-0.5m/s) to sit atop the standings overnight.

On Wednesday morning, O’Connor extended her lead with 6.37m in the long jump and she had one hand on gold after throwing a whopping 52.85m in the javelin.

She just needed to avoid disaster in the concluding 800m to seal it and O’Connor did much more, kicking to the front up the home straight and crossing the line first in 2:10.45, having won five of the seven events. Her Northern Ireland teammate Anna McCauley finished eighth with 5944 points.

“I really enjoyed that run,” said O'Connor. “I had the privilege of standing on the line knowing I just had to get around the two laps and I had the gold medal. But I wanted to do a bit more than that and put on a bit of a show.”

She will now switch her focus to the European Championships in Birmingham, with just over two weeks to prepare. O’Connor will face a much stiffer test there and will go in ranked second via the 6714 she scored last year, with Switzerland’s Annik Kalin ranked first with the 6819 she scored in Germany last month.

Meanwhile Daniel Wiffen has secured silver in the 1,500m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games.

Wiffen touched the wall in 14:44.70, while Australia’s Sam Short took gold in 14:42.11, with his compatriot Benjamin Goedemans claiming bronze in 14:49.50.