Four events down, three to go, and Kate O’Connor remains on course for her seventh consecutive championship medal. So far, so good, but day one also brought some gentle reminders that not everything will always go according to plan.
By the close of Friday night’s session at the European Championships in Birmingham, O’Connor was sitting in the bronze medal position on 3,926 points – which is 20 points better than her overnight tally from the World Championships in Tokyo last September. There, she went on to win the silver medal with an Irish record of 6,714.
Here, the Dundalk star wrapped up her fourth event in familiar style with a searing run over the 200 metres, clocking a superb time of 23.79 seconds, third best in her race. Although ruled out for personal best purposes because of the tailwind of +3.4 m/s (above the legal limit +2.0) it earned her 1,001 points, though she did drop from second down to third.
The overnight leader is Adrianna Sulek-Schubert from Poland, who took the lead after the second event, the high jump, and sits on 3,968. A similarly blazing 200m run from the Dutch medal hope Sofie Dokter moved her into the silver medal position on 3,944, with Sophie Weissenberg from Germany right on O’Connor’s heels (3,911).
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“It was up and down,” O’Connor said. “I was happy with the hurdles this morning, I wish I ran faster, but it was a PB. High jump, I was delighted. I think I could have cleared 1.89m. The shot, I let myself down. I threw really badly two weeks ago and I think it probably got in my head a little bit. I don’t trust my technique as much as I should do, I feel a little bit lost in the event.
“The 200m, I’m obviously really happy with it. I tried to put on a show. With multi-events, it’s really hard to put together seven amazing performances. Today I put together three, and one really bad. That’s the way multi-events go. I parked it and ran as fast as I could there and managed to salvage the day.”
Indeed that potential for sudden slip was evident in the shot put, where O’Connor was some way off her best of 14.70m. Not regarded as one of her strongest events, her first effort of 13.46m clearly wasn’t to her liking. Her second effort, which fell shorter again, and she immediately fouled, even less so.
Then came another display of her competitive instinct, when she improved to 13.96m with her final effort, earning her 791 points, keeping her in the silver medal position at that point.
“I knew it was going to be extremely close, this competition,” she added. “I knew I was going to have to fight until the very end and all I can do is focus on the fact I know I can jump far, throw far and run really quick.
“I had a brief look at the results, and I think I’m within striking distance but I have to go in and execute everything perfectly on day two. I put myself in a great position, if I threw a better shot I’d be in an amazing position.
“It’s part of multi-events, appreciate and acknowledge the highs and lows. I’m constantly learning how to get better at it, it’s still not perfect. It’s the name of the game. I think I’m capable of scoring 6,800, 6,900 if I put it all together. I’d love to break the national record, I think it’ll take a new national record to get on the podium. The goal is to perform out of my skin in the next three events.”
In the morning session, a superb series of high jumps shot her up into second place. With a best height of 1.86m, at her third attempt, she equalled her lifetime best from last Tokyo last year. With that she finished joint first in the event, earning herself a valuable 1,054 points.
Earlier, O’Connor set a new lifetime best over the 100 metres hurdles, clocking 13.30. Her medal quest concludes with Saturday’s three remaining events in the long jump (10.25am), the javelin (11.55am), and finally the 800m (7.45pm).
Among the thrilling medal showdowns on the track, Nadia Battocletti from Italy completed the second half of her long-distance double, winning the 10,000 metres with another exhibition of her finishing speed, clocking 31:41.17.
Fiona Everard finished back in 20th, running 33:08.60, while Niamh Allen, unable to go with the pace from early on, dropped out with six and a half laps to go. Karston Warholm also won another gold medal for Norway when winning the 400m hurdles in a championship record of 46.63.
