It’s always fun to say that you saw young athletes come on the scene before they became successful at senior level. I was lucky to have seen both Kate O’Connor and Cian McPhillips long before their success in Tokyo last week. Only, like most people, I never imagined their breakthroughs at the World Championships coming as soon as they did.
I remember O’Connor showing great promise in the heptathlon when she won the silver medal at the European Under-20 Championships in Borås, Sweden, in 2019. My daughter Sophie was also competing there, and we were also in Gyor, Hungary, for the European Under-18 Championships in 2018.
That’s when people first started telling me to look out for McPhillips. That he was going to be very good. I know he lost a spike that day and didn’t run as well as he hoped, but I do remember thinking he looked a bit too weak and skinny. Looking at him now, I almost can’t believe he’s the same person.
I was out for a short run early on Thursday and afterwards got some nice messages from people reminding me it was the 25th anniversary of my Olympic silver medal in Sydney. That got me thinking that neither O’Connor nor McPhillips were even born then. Time moves on.
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Together they helped make it the best World Championships ever for Irish athletics. From the first day and right the way through, we had an athlete in contention in some event, every day. Whether that was a heat to get into a semi-final, or a semi-final to get into a final.
No one predicted it. I did say before the start that Irish athletes just needed to bring their best possible performances to Tokyo. That’s all you can ask for. We did see that with most Irish athletes. Sometimes that wasn’t good enough, but in most cases, they left all they possibly could out there on the track.
But O’Connor and McPhillips rose far above all expectations. O’Connor didn’t just win the silver medal in the heptathlon, she won it in great style. She wasn’t just hanging on. At age 24, she beat the world and Olympic champion, setting five personal bests in seven events.
From her first event, setting a personal best in the 100m hurdles, it was clear she was in a great mindset. We’d heard she had been doing some training with Sarah Lavin beforehand, at the training camp in Hong Kong. Sharing starts, attacking the first hurdle, things like that. O’Connor was looking for areas to improve, and Lavin is the best sprint hurdler we have, one of the best in the world. That illustrates some of the advantages of being on a camp, sharing training with other athletes where possible.
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Once O’Connor got off to such a good start, she was able to build on that, bring that energy and momentum to the next events. The first day was so condensed as well, the first four events all in the evening session. I think that suited her youthful inexperience on the world stage.
We saw some of the other athletes didn’t deal with that so well, but her youthful exuberance carried her through. Every heptathlete must push themselves to the limit. You see it by the second day, when most of them come out with taping somewhere on the legs or arms. It’s an extremely demanding two days.
Like when O’Connor came out for the javelin, and straight away we saw she had that tape on her right knee. As it turned out it wasn’t too serious an issue, she was able to manage it. But those things are easier to manage when you believe you are in the best position possible, to get the best result you can. Nothing was going to stop her at that stage. She was going to fight to the end.
She said herself she hardly warmed up for the javelin, but still she just launched it out there to a personal best 53.06 metres. It’s a huge advantage for her, and will be in the future, to have such a specialist event like that. She knows if she can keep up on the first day, she’ll always be able to throw the javelin much farther than the rest. That’s a huge buffer.
Mentally she got things absolutely right as well. It’s winning the mini battles over the days too. For example, she wasn’t in the fastest heat of the 100m hurdles. But she was still so determined to try to win her heat, do the best she could. You could easily think “oh, I’d be much better if I was in the fastest heat”. But she just accepted what she was handed, made the very best of it.
For McPhillips, finishing fourth in the 800m at age 23, and twice breaking the Irish record, was another great breakthrough. When he was beaten by Mark English in the National Championships at the start of August, the feeling was he’s not quite at that level this year.
But he’s clearly been working very hard on strength and conditioning. And his general fitness. Being able to close fast is critical now in the 800m, and he clearly has that, and was so close to getting a medal.
In Tokyo, no one even considered him. He could do what he liked. And it didn’t matter if he failed or not. He is going to be very closely watched from now on. But running 1:42.15 is a truly world-class time, must be one of the best Irish records in the books.
After a successful junior career, he’s admitted himself that he has made some mistakes along the way. He’s doing everything possible now, is more aware of the training and why he’s doing it, which helps to absorb it, while increasing an athlete’s belief and confidence in their ability. O’Connor has also taken ownership of her training and understands it all. Rather than just sitting there and doing what you’re told, she believes in what she’s doing.
Some athletes came away from Tokyo knowing they’ve still a lot more work to do, and it’s definitely back to the drawing board for the women’s 4x400m relay.
But both O’Connor and McPhillips are home-based success stories too, and it’s always good to know you can make it here, once you find the right team to surround yourself with. There’s no reason for any Irish athlete not to believe they can compete with the very best in the world if they knuckle down and put the work in.
O’Connor and McPhillips are just the latest Irish athletes to show the way.
