O’Connor secures European gold in heptathlonImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, O’Connor set an Irish record with 6751 pointsPublished39 minutes agoIreland’s Kate O’Connor secured gold in the heptathlon at the European Championships in Birmingham.The Newry-born 25-year-old entered the final event with a 51-point lead on nearest challenger, Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands.O’Connor needed to get to within 3.4 seconds of Oosterwegel in the 800m to seal overall victory and did just that with the Dutch woman winning the race in 2:10.87, but O’Connor – in third behind Sveva Gerevini of Italy – was within a second in 2:11.74.It meant that O’Connor came top with 6751 points – a national record – with Oosterwegel taking silver on 6713 and Netherlands’ Sofie Dokter claiming bronze on 6664.This success builds on the gold O’Connor won at the Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland in July and silver at last year’s World Championships.O’Connor entered day two in third place after four events, 42 points behind overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert, after PBs in the 100m hurdles [13:30] and 200m [23.79] on Friday which also saw her equal her best of 1.86m in the high jump and throw 13.96m with the shot put.Her personal best form continued in the long jump on Saturday morning with a leap of 6.55m and a throw of 50.16m in the javelin took her overall total to 5,812 points, 51 ahead of Oosterwegel who had moved into second with Dokter third as Poland’s Sulek-Schubert dropped to seventh after a disappointing start to the day.It all came down to the 800m on Saturday evening and O’Connor raced into an early lead before Oosterwegel took the initiative, but the Dundalk St Gerard’s AC athlete remained on her shoulder as Gerevini then mounted a charge.While Oosterwegel passed the Italian to win the race, O’Connor was within a second which was enough to claim a second gold medal in a matter of weeks.Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson stayed the course in the 800m metres but finished last in the first heat to finish 21st overall.The 33-year-old Olympic silver medallist came into the competition after competing just once – a shot put event in Loughborough in May – since claiming bronze at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo.Johnson-Thompson entered Saturday 324 points off the pace in 16th but her challenge faded in the long jump and javelin earlier in the day, while she came in last in heat one of the 800m.Her GB team-mate Jade O’Dowda finished 13th with 6191 points after a fifth-place finish in heat one of the 800m.More to followRelated topicsAthletics
