In miserable conditions, Kate O’Connor set Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium alight with an electric 200m run to regain the lead after day one of the heptathlon at the Commonwealth Games.
On a rain-soaked evening, O’Connor defied the conditions to take the 200m victory in 24.14 seconds, just shy of her lifetime best. Taking a glance at the clock, O’Connor raised her arms in delight after crossing the line having endured a difficult result in the shot put.
O’Connor’s time in the 200m earned her 967 points to put her comfortably back in the gold-medal position on 3,731 points. England’s Jade O’Dowda is second on 3,682, having briefly taken the lead after the shot put but fell back with her 24.93 in the second 200m race.
O’Connor had struggled to find her best form inside the slippery shot put circle, throwing 12.80 metres in her first attempt which was surpassed by O’Dowda, who threw 13.28m with her first throw. O’Connor improved slightly with her second throw of 12.85m, but finished with a 12.67m.
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O’Dowda had trailed O’Connor by four points after the opening two events, but her shot put result saw her top the standings with 2,789 points, 25 points clear of O’Connor on 2,764.
“This evening was tough,” said O’Connor. “I had a nightmare in the shot put to be honest. I’ve not thrown under 14m in a long, long time. So, to throw 12.85m was really gutting.
“But I just wanted to come out and do a quick 200m, finish the day off on a good note, and I’m delighted with that, in that weather. I’m freezing cold and had about 10 minutes warm-up, so I’m delighted.”
Asked about the long day due to the spread of events in the heptathlon, O’Connor added: “This morning, because it wasn’t raining, it worked really well, it was just this evening that was really tough.
“I’ve never thrown the shot in the rain, I don’t know if I’ve ever run a 200m race in conditions like this before, so it’s something new. It’s just go home now, recover, then hopefully come back and put in another big day tomorrow.”
Anna McCauley, also of Northern Ireland, sits sixth overall on 3,511 point having produced an excellent run to win the second 200m race in 24.55 seconds.
In Tuesday’s morning session, O’Connor cleared a high jump best of 1.82m, bringing her points tally to 2,047 points for the four-point lead over O’Dowda.
O’Connor passed on the opening height of 1.64m, coming in at 1.67m which she cleared on her first attempt. Having cleared the next four heights on her first attempts, she took three efforts to clear 1.82m and then fell just short in all three attempts at 1.85m. O’Dowda posted best height of 1.79m, with New Zealand’s Maddie Wilson the only other athlete to clear 1.83m.
In the opening event, the 100m hurdles, O’Connor clocked 13.54 seconds for third, just .10 off her personal best. Canada’s Sienna MacDonald took the win in 12.99 seconds, while O’Dowda took second in 13.32.
This marks O’Connor’s third time representing Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, having won silver four years ago in what was her first international senior medal. She is the favourite to win gold here after England’s two-time defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson withdrew last week.
The heptathlon continues on Wednesday with the remaining three events; the long jump, javelin and 800m.
