Kate O'Connor has won silver in the heptathlon in the European U20 Championships, Ireland's first ever medal in the event at a major championships.
O'Connor entered the final event, the 800m, in third place, trailing Annik Kalin and Maria Vicente of Switzerland and Spain respectively.
The Newry native would clear her personal best in the high jump yesterday, topping her previous record of 1.81m.
Kate O'Connor (@kateoc2000) clears a lifetime best of 1.81m in the heptathlon high jump!#Boras2019 pic.twitter.com/DqfP5TTSW1
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 18, 2019
Strong showings in the shot put and 200m put her into third position entering today's events.
She managed to grab 768 points in the long jump, with the javelin up next.
O'Connor would put in an incredible performance in the javelin, smashing the Irish U20 and U23 records, with her 52.92m being the second best Irish mark of all time.
Woah! Monster throw of 52.92m from Kate O'Connor in the javelin during the heptathlon at the European U20 Championships. That's an Irish U20 and U23 record and breaks her PB by 3.61m. pic.twitter.com/zQqGAYCQUN
— PJ Browne (@P_J_Browne) July 19, 2019
Heading into the final event, she trailed the leader by only 15 points. If the times went with the form for this season, the Irishwoman had an excellent chance of grabbing gold.
O'Connor ran strongly in the 800m, and looked likely to secure gold as she turned for home on the final lap. However, she would fade badly and was overtaken by Vicente who shaved six seconds off her PB to claim first in the overall standings.
While she would have to settle for silver in the end, it was an incredible showing for O'Connor over the last couple of days.
The silver star!!!@kateoc2000 wins the first EVER heptathlon medal for Ireland with a tally of 6093 points 🇮🇪🤯🇮🇪🤯🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/frZAHdVisZ
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) July 19, 2019
