Name: Kate O’Connor
Club: Dundalk St Gerard's
Event: Heptathlon
Personal Best: 6487
Tokyo Schedule: Fri 19th Sept 9.33am (100m Hurdles), 10.20am High Jump, 12.30pm Shot Putt, 1.38pm 200m.
Tokyo Schedule: Sat 20th Sept 3.30am (Long Jump), 11.00 Javelin, 1.06pm 800m
Juvenile
Kate O’Connor has been in flying form in 2025. The story of her multi-events accolades has met well worn print over the past few months: bronze in the European Indoors, silver at the World Indoors and then gold at the World University Games. A set of medals.
O’Connor started out running middle distance, winning the u14 800m back in 2013 and finishing 2nd in the Long Jump along with a win in the Javelin in the same year. It was that same year that she got her first Irish vest for combined events – in the SIAB international in Scotland. Her juvenile career is laced with multi events success at home and abroad.
Major Age Group Championships
O’Connor’s first major championship was the European u18 Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia where she finished 7th in the Heptathlon. Incidentally the talented Dundalk St Gerards athlete, despite her focused discipline was not averse to running longer distances. She ran a very creditable 36.53 that winter over 10km. In 2017 she reached another major, the European u20s where she was 8th with Ireland’s Elizabeth Moreland in 5th. Two years later in 2019 she was still eligible for the u20s and this time she received the silver medal behind Maria Vincente (Spain) who went on to win the European u23 Triple jump a few years later. (Vincente is back competing in Tokyo in the heptathlon). The third placed girl on that podium Anik Kahlin (Switzerland) took silver in this years European Indoor Long Jump and is also on this years list for the heptathlon in Tokyo.
Although she did start the 2021 European u23 Championships, injury forced O’Connor to retire before her signature event the javelin.
Senior International Majors
O’Connor, who was born in Newry, is eligible for the Commonwealth Games. In Brisbane in 2018 she finished 8th, behind England’s Katerina Johnson-Thompson. Four years later (2022) in Glasgow she stood on the podium alongside the great English multi-eventer as she received a silver medal with Johnson-Thompson the gold.
O’Connor made her World Championship debut in Budapest, finishing 13th in the heptathlon, while knocking out some personal bests in the individual events and
In 2024, she won the National Championships in the Javelin and finished 2nd in the shot. She also made her Olympic Games debut in Paris where she finished 14th.
And we all know the story of 2025, the stunning display in Apeldoorn where she was one of three Irish medalists in that glorious 26-minute time slot. Adding to her bronze, she went to Nanjing with the weight of the nation’s expectations on her shoulders. The affable Dundalk St Gerards athlete duly delivered another stunning performance and walked away with the silver medal on this occasion. Her gold in the World University Games in Germany in July completed a full set of majors this summer and set yet another national record.
There is more depth to O’Connors performances. Along her journey through the years, she had set national record after national record, breaking ground for those yet to come. Amid these performances are a host of improvements to her personal bests too – always managing at least some event personal best in each major competition. This year alone, she has taken almost three seconds off her 800m time, improved her high jump by 4cm, her long jump has taken a staggering 28cm leap. Then add a 48cm improvement in her shot putt and a further 243 points to her heptathlon score – the Newry native is in very good shape.
And what about Tokyo?
And on to Tokyo. Her second World Championships will prove tougher than any of her three majors this year. For starters the world number one and Olympic Champion Thiam (Belgium) will be there along with Katrina Johnson-Thompson (now 32 years old) and World number 2, American Heptathlete Anna Hall. Based on this season’s performances O’Connor has the fifth best score but is placed 11th on personal bests – some of which have been achieved several years ago and many of whom O’Connor has already beaten this year. One thing for sure, we can count on Kate O’Connor and her team of Michael O’Connor (her dad) and Tom Reynolds, ensuring we get her best possible performances on the day. Exciting times ahead.
International Majors
2016: European u18 Championships Tbilisi Heptathlon 7th Final
2017: European u20 Championships Italy Heptathlon 7th Final
2017: European CE Team Championships Spain Heptathlon 3rd Final
2018: Commonwealth Games Brisbane Heptathlon 8th Final
2019: European u20 Championships Sweden Heptathlon 2nd Final
2022: Commonwealth Games Birmingham Heptathlon 2nd Final
2025: European Indoor Championships China, Pentathlon 3rd Final
2025: World Indoor Championships China, Pentathlon 2nd Final
2025: World University Games Germany, Heptathlon 1st Final
Personal Bests
Pentathlon: 4781 NR 09/03/2025
Heptathlon: 6487 NR 24/07/2025
100m H: 13.57 19/08/2023
Long Jump: 6.32m 25/03/2025
High Jump: 1.84m 09/03/2025
200m: 24.33 23/07/2025
Long Jump: 2:10.46 24/09/2025
Javelin: 52.92m NRu20 19/07/2019
Shot Putt: 14.64m 21/03/2025