Kate O'Connor one race from European gold as she seizes heptathlon lead
Kate O'Connor leapt to a lifetime best of 6.55m in the heptathlon long jump on Saturday morning at the European Championships. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
She has more than a chance. She’s in control.
Kate O’Connor’s morning work moved her in the right direction. The leaderboard was climbed two precious places. She will enter Saturday evening’s 800m in the gold medal position.
Following a long jump lifetime best of 6.55m and a solid 50.16m in her favoured javelin discipline, O’Connor’s six-event total of 5,812 is 51 points clear of Emma Oosterwegel in second. Fellow Dutch multi-eventer and World Indoor champion Sofie Dokter is third and 71 points adrift of the Irish leader.
To maintain the podium’s top spot through two laps of the Alexander Stadium track, O’Connor must finish within 3.5 seconds of Oosterwegel and 4.9 seconds of Dokter.
Oosterwegel’s 800m PB is a second better than O’Connor’s 2:09.56, whereas Dokter has never broken 2:10.
The obvious conclusion to therefore draw is that Oosterwegel has no choice but to pour on the pace. O’Connor’s ability to keep close contact with whatever the Dutch is churning out will decide gold.
Sitting 105 points clear of Annik Kälin in fourth, an Irish medal is nailed on. Kate will have her magnificent seven. The six-in-a-row podium-climbing championship streak of the past 18 months will be extended and continued.
Ireland will have its 24th European Championship medal. The curiosity is the colour. Can her own magnificent seven be a seventh ever Irish gold?
“I’m feeling pretty positive, I’m in a strong enough position,” said the 25-year-old. “Now it’s just time to rest, relax, and think tactics in a couple of hours.
“I’m happy with my long jump. Javelin, I was trying to navigate the winds, but I can’t really make any excuses, I just didn’t execute well.
“But I’ve got a healthy-ish lead, but I’ll have a job to do later. It’s going to be really stiff. I knew that coming in here. I think I’ve given myself every opportunity to do what I came here to do, I’ve just got one more event to go to try to do it. I’ll give it my all.”
Tension, self-inflicted pressure, and phenomenal relief invaded O’Connor during her “up and down” Friday evening session at the Alexander Stadium. Back on track Saturday morning, shock was the first face she pulled.
In her opening long jump effort, O’Connor was in disbelief as she climbed out of the sandpit. It was good. Very good. But how good?
The scoreboard confirmed her suspicions that something special had been leapt. 6.55m. A lifetime best. A lifetime best by 5cm. The wind reading of +2.0m/s was both favourable and legal. She roared and swung the arms in pumped-up delight.
The long jump has the potential to be the most debilitating and destabilising of the heptathlon’s seven disciplines. Failure to put a mark on the board in the opening round brings stress, strain, and deep anxiety when returning to the runway for a second time.
The room for risk shrinks considerably. Safety battles with distance for priority. A ceiling is placed on what a heptathlete can achieve.
Scoring so well so early in the competition allowed O’Connor to relax for her remaining two jumps. It was immaterial what she did or didn’t leap.
There was no bettering that opening mark, 6.55m equating to 1,023 points. Her new 4,949 standing shoved her 125 points ahead of where she was five events into her 6,714 national record and World Championship silver 12 months ago.
In retrospect, maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised at the breaking of new ground in the sandpit.
When asked on Friday night which of the following day’s three events she was most looking forward to, the long jump was eventually singled out.
“I want to do a big long jump,” she said. “I feel like I haven’t had an opportunity to do that this outdoor season.” Her gold medal rivals came together and came strong with their third attempt.
Annik Kälin’s 6.81m, off a +3.8m/s tailwind, elevated her into first. Dokter’s 6.51m maintained her overnight silver medal position. The pair sat just five and six points clear of O’Connor.
Overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert teetered with collapse. Her first two jumps were fouled. The board was finally and successfully navigated. Her anything-will-do 6.23m salvaged effort relegated the Pole to fifth and 60 points adrift of O’Connor.
Oosterwegel was the sole other athlete, along with the Irishwoman, to leap a lifetime best. A 6.50m jump positioned her 77 points behind O’Connor. She closed that gap with 51.49m on her second javelin spear.
A 56-plus thrower on her day, the relief for the Irish camp was that Oosterwegel’s final launch brought no improvement.
O’Connor’s 50.16m was registered in the opening round. It has her 69 points ahead of where she was in Tokyo. Her 49.96m second throw came up just shy of that first mark. Wind conditions hampered the Dundalk native from getting out to her typical 52-plus range.
On Saturday morning in Birmingham, it was not required.
She will know, down to the last millisecond, what is required come 7.45pm Saturday evening.
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