There were other finals down for decision on Saturday night, and what an action-packed session of athletics it was.

Andy Diaz Hernandez produced the fourth-longest triple jump in history when reaching 18.15m.

Julian Weber (90.40m CR EL) broke the 90-metre barrier to set a new championship record in the men’s javelin, with Germany also taking silver through Nick Thumm (83.76m PB).

Sweden’s Andreas Almgren broke a championship record that stood since 1978 when dominating the Men’s 10000m Final, clocking 27:23.44 CR SB.

Both María Pérez and Sofia Fiorini set new world records with their victories in the race walks.

Britain won both the Men’s 4 x 100m and Women’s 4 x 100m Relays, with Amy Hunt claiming another gold medal to add to those from her 100m/200m sprint double. Her compatriot Dina Asher-Smith, who was part of the winning relay team, took a record-equalling tenth European Championships medal.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine won the Women’s High Jump gold medal, clearing 1.97m, while Henriette Jaeger of Norway won the Women’s 400m Final with a new National Record and European Leading time of 49.04 seconds.

The post Video: Day 6 Highlights from Birmingham 2026 appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Kate O’Connor won GOLD in heptathlon, while Andrew Coscoran won BRONZE in the Men’s 1500m Final.

A silver medallist at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 2025, O’Connor came into this evening’s final event, the 800m, in the gold medal position, and needed to finish the race within three second of her main rival, Emma Oosterwegel from The Netherlands, to take the gold.

KATE O’CONNOR IS A EUROPEAN GOLD MEDALLIST!

Not only that, she’s beaten the Irish national record.

She has well and truly written herself into the history books.

Watch all the action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. pic.twitter.com/ydRy8ILcRL

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026

The Dutch athlete did her best to take the time out of O’Connor as she led into the final straight and moved on to claim victory in the heptathlon 800m in 2:10.87.

O’Connor, however, was within a minute of Oosterwegel, crossing the line in 2:11.11, ensuring she claimed the heptathlon gold medal. Sveva Gerevini from Italy, who injected pace into the race down the far side of the track, took second in the race in a time of 2:11.11.

“When I heard the cheers”

Giving her reaction to RTÉ Sport after her latest gold medal triumph, the St Gerard’s AC athlete said:

“When I heard cheers like that for me going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers

“I was very conscious that there were two Dutch girls on my outside. Tactics really do come into play there, so I had to make sure I got myself into a safe spot. I know some of the girls aren’t afraid to bump and barge. I really wanted to make sure I got my spot and no one was going to ram me out of there, and then it was a case of settling in and following the tactics we had set out.

“I did really want to win that 800m race, but with 50 metres to go I knew I had it in me to stay within the three seconds. I just wanted to cruise home and make sure I leave here injury-free and with a gold medal around my neck.”

“When I heard cheers like that for me going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers.”

Kate O’Connor talks to David Gillick after securing European gold in the heptathlon.

Watch live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. pic.twitter.com/6ye47GKmh6

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026

The overall result of the women’s heptathlon was gold for O’Connor with 6,751 points, a new National Record. Silver and Bronze went to The Netherlands, with Emma Oosterwegel second with a personal best score of 6,713 points, and Sofie Dokter also claiming a personal best with 6,664 points.

Highly decorated star

In just a very short space of time, Kate O’Connor has become one of Ireland’s most decorated sports stars, winning four medals in 2025 and three this year.

Last year, O’Connor took bronze in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, silver in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, silver in the heptathlon at the World Championships in Tokyo, and gold in the heptathlon at the World University Games in Bochum.

2026 had been gold medals all the way for the Newry-born performer with wins in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, the heptathlon at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and now another heptathlon victory at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Coscoran Bronze in Men’s 1500m Final

Andrew Coscoran won a surprise bronze medal in the Men’s 1500 Final this evening.

The Balbriggan native and two-time Olympian finished behind Stefan Nillessen of The Netherlands and Samuel Pihlstrom from Sweden.

The gold medallist clocked 3:35.70, with the runner-up 3:36.16, while the Irish record holder at both 1500m and 3000m, Coscoran, stopped the clock at 3:36.24.

Stefan Nillessen wins GOLD in the men’s 1500m at the European Championships in 3:35.70s.

He made a huge sprint over the final 100m to take the title.

Samuel Pihlström in 3:36.16s.
Andrew Coscoran in 3:36.24s. pic.twitter.com/SeHvehrUAt

— SprintForge (@Tweeterfinger1) August 15, 2026

“I’m sitting here with a bronze medal”

Discussing his preparation for these championships, the Star of the Sea AC man said:

“It all just clicked on the day. My preparation was really good. I have to thank my team of pacers over the last while. I’ve been going through a bit of a tough time with things and all the lads have been out on the bikes with me, pacing me and really helping me.

“That’s a product of a lot of work over the years. A lot of strength work, a lot of speed work. It eventually paid off. That’s class.”

Commenting on tonight’s race, he admitted:

“A lot of the time it can open up. It’s a split-second decision on the back straight whether to go up the inside or go around the outside.

“It opened up on the inside and I made a split-second decision to go. It’s a risk. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did. I’m sitting here with a bronze medal.”

The post GOLD for O’Connor & BRONZE for Coscoran appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

With two events down for decision in the morning session, O’Connor set a PB in the 100m hurdles and equalled her PB in the high jump.

The Newry-born woman began by taking fourth place in a PB time of 13.30 seconds in the 100m hurdles.

Then she turned up the heat on her competitors in the high jump. Coming in to the event at 1.68m, she cleared on her first attempt at 1.68m, 1.71m, 1.74m and 1.80m.

She then went for a season’s best clearance of 1.83m, which she duly jumped, to earn 1,1016 points and move into the overall lead.

O’Connor then failed on her first two attempts at 1.86m, but with Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schubert clearing the height on her first attempt, she moved ahead of O’Connor and into the heptathlon lead.

Kate O’Connor admitted to being ‘so nervous’ ahead of her participation in the heptathlon, acknowledging that European milti-events are ‘insane’ #rtesport #EuropeanAthletics pic.twitter.com/ueiTlC2k1v

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2026

The Dundalk resident then equalled her personal best when clearing 1.86m on the third attempt, before going in search of a new PB when the bar was raised to 1.89m.

With both O’Connor and the Polish heptathlete attempting the 1.89m height, both failed on their respective three attempts to end the morning session with Sulek-Schubert one point ahead of O’Connor.

The heptathlon shot put will begin at 5.35pm, and the 200m will be the final event of the day for O’Connor – that will be at 8.55pm.

Men’s 1500m

A fourth place finish in heat 2 of the men’s 1500m, in a time of 3:41.86, saw Andrew Coscoran qualify for the final. His team mate, Cathal Doyle, didn’t have as much luck, as he came down in the first heat, finally competing the course in 4:36.28.

Andrew Coscoran on the importance of keeping your cool as he ran a clever race to reach the 1,500m final #rtesport #EuropeanAthletics pic.twitter.com/BYuPEDNsBh

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2026

Relay Teams

In Heat 1 of the Women’s 4 x 400m Relay, the Ireland team of Sophie Becker, Jenna Breen, Clíodhna Manning and Arlene Crossan came home in eighth place in a time of 3:32.56.

The men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Andrew Egan, Jack Raftery, Joe Doody and Seán Doggett were fifth in their heat, and 10th overall, in a season’s best time of 3:01.76.

The Irish men’s 4x400m relay team reflect on the European Championships experience, saying that their season’s best effort in their heat ‘exceded their expectations’ #rtesport #EuropeanAthletics pic.twitter.com/odpO956m9B

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2026

Neither of the Irish relay teams advanced to their respective finals.

The post Kate O’Connor in PB form in Birmingham appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Where to Watch & Full Irish Schedule – 2025 World Athletics Championships

The wait is almost over! The 20th World Athletics Championships land in Tokyo from 13–21 September 2025, and Ireland is sending its largest ever squad to compete on the global stage. From marathons at sunrise to primetime finals under the lights at Japan’s National Stadium, fans are in for a feast of athletics action.

Where to Watch

Irish fans won’t miss a moment thanks to RTÉ’s wall-to-wall coverage. Catch every race, jump, and throw live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with daily highlights and expert analysis across all nine days of competition.

Team Ireland Schedule

All times listed are Irish Time (with Tokyo local time in brackets).

This year’s Irish team is packed with medal contenders and rising stars – from Sarah Healy and Sarah Lavin on the track to Kate O’Connor in the heptathlon and Mark English over 800m. Make sure to set your alarms and tune in for what could be Ireland’s biggest medal haul yet.

The post Ireland Schedule & Where to Watch | 2025 World Athletics Championships appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The Team Ireland member ran close to his personal best, coming across the line with a time of 3:35.84 in 10th, just outside his best time of 3:35.66.

The Balbriggan athlete posted the second-fastest time of his career, and with just the top 5 advancing to the final (plus two time-qualifiers), his Olympic Games finishes with a 20^th place ranking overall.

A quick opening lap set the tone of the race, with the Irishman needing to have his wits about him from the gun to stay in contention.

Coscoran stayed connected to the race throughout, sitting at the back of the main pack and hoping to produce a fast final 100m like in his heat, but ultimately those ahead of him held on.

Noting the fast early pace and his plan for the race, Coscoran said: “A 56-second flat first lap will take the steam out of you fairly quickly…The plan was to stay connected to the pack. No matter where the pack was…in the heats, I let a little bit of a gap open so the plan was to not let that happen.”

Proud of his two races in his Olympic Games debut he added; “It was a good race, it was good for me. The heats was probably the best race of my life, and then that was the best race of my life…I think I did better than what I was expected to do and I think that’s because of all the race experience I’ve had in the entire season”.

The second semi-final was won in an Olympic record by Abel Kipsang of Kenya, and a time qualifier position would have required an Irish record or three-second PB from the Irishman.

The post Team Ireland Athlete Coscoran Runs Well But Fails To Advance appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Men’s 1500m Round 1 (Heat 1) – 01:27 – Andrew Coscoran

At just before 09:30 in a wet, rainy Tokyo, Coscoran lined up to take part in a fast competitive 1500m heat.

The Irishman came into this race ranked 40th in the world for this event. He had high hopes of qualifying for the semi-final but faced a star studded line-up.

He would need to challenge with the world number two, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and number four, Kenya’s Ronald Musagala. The top six finishers would qualify automatically and the next six fastest from the three heats.

Coscoran started his race fast and sat in seventh after the first lap, tucking into the inside lane. He is considered to run courageously with all his heart.

With 800m left he was in the middle of the pack. The 25-year-old has a very strong finish and as he heard to bell for the final lap, he produced a quick turn of pace.

In the final 100m he managed to overtake three more athletes and he finished the race in eighth. Although he was outside the outside automatic qualification but scored a very good time.

Team GB’s Jake Heyward finished the race in first while Ethiopa’s Teddese Lemi narrowly getting second.

Even though he was two seconds off his season best, the conditions proved tricky with three athletes not finishing the race.

Coscoran will now run in the semi-final on the morning of Wednesday, 5th August.

#Athletics

Andrew Coscoran…has done it!!!

His time of 3:37.11 in 8th place is good enough for a time qualifier spot – on to the Semi-finals!#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/cJdhleOXhE

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 3, 2021

Women’s 400m Round 1 (Heat 5) – 02:17 – Phil Healy

Less than an hour later and Phil Healy was at the starting line of her third event of the Olympics. She previously ran in the 4x400m mixed relay final and got a personal best in the 200m heats.

The track had dried up slightly as she prepared herself for what is one of her strongest events. She was ranked at 41st in the world before the start which put her as the fourth favourite.

The world number three, Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson was also in lane two.

Only the top three fastest in each race plus the six fastest of the six heats would qualify for the semi-finals tomorrow.

Healy started the race strong but started to look tired, this would be understandable as it was her fourth race of the week.

In the final 150m she pulled an amazing amount of energy out of nowhere to push into fourth place in a time of 51.98 seconds.

With one heat left to go the West Cork woman was in a the qualification places but it would come down to the wire. In the most dramatic fashion, Cyrus’ Eleni Artymata beat out Healy by seven one hundredths of a second in the final heat to take her place.

This is the second time in as many days that Healy has missed out on a semi-final by less than half a second but she remained in high spirits.

This is the end of her Olympic journey but she has made Irish history at this Games as well as her country proud.

#Athletics

Phil Healy finishes heat five of the Women’s 400m in a time of 51:98, missing the semi by 0.07 sec, and one spot.

Her first #Olympics and she qualified for the Games in three events #Paris2024 is just around the corner.#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/ktBeFA2fAU

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 3, 2021

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