Kate O’Connor has won a historic silver medal in the pentathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
The Dundalk St Gerard’s AC athlete won her first global medal with a stunning performance of 4,742 points. It is Ireland’s first podium place at a World Indoor Athletics Championships since Derval O’Rourke’s gold in the 60m hurdles in 2006.
O’Connor’s performance comes just over a fortnight after her bronze medal success at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn. There she set a new national record of 4,781 points, achieving personal bests in four of her five events. Friday saw her improve on three of those personal bests once again, and this time on the world stage.
The Dundalk athlete got the competition off to a flying start with a personal best of 8.30 in the 60m hurdles. She followed with an impressive 1.81m clearance in the high jump. A second PB followed in the shot put, where she threw 14.64m.
The afternoon session saw O’Connor open with a personal best of 6.30m in the first of her attempts in the long jump. She improved on the mark mark once again in the second round with a leap of 6.32m. The final 800m event saw her reproduce another outstanding track performance, crossing the finish in a time of 2:14.19 which guaranteed her place on the podium.
Speaking after her final event, 24-year-old O’Connor, who is only the seventh Irish athlete to win a medal individually at a World Indoor Championships, said:
“I’ve just been on a bit of a run since the European Championships. I really wanted to come in here with a bit of confidence and just go out there and enjoy myself. I’ve been training really hard and I wanted to go out there and make my country proud.
“Winning this medal and the medal a couple of weeks ago will really push multi events forward in the country and let younger athletes see what other options are available to them in athletics.”
