With her confidence and competitive spirit soaring, Kate O’Connor secured heptathlon gold at the Commonwealth Games in imperious style on Wednesday night.
Run in late evening sunshine at the Scotstoun Stadium, O’Connor finished in brilliant style to win the 800m outright in 2:10.45, kicking clear in the last 100m. It brought her tally to 6,569 points, well clear of England’s Jade O’Dowda, who took the silver medal with 6,278.
O’Connor, who won silver at Commonwealth Games four years ago, won five of the seven heptathlon events on her way to gold this time around.
“I really enjoyed that run,” said O’Connor after sealing gold. “I had the privilege of standing on the line, knowing I just had to get around the two laps, and I’d have the gold medal wrapped around my neck.
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“But I wanted to do a little more than that, and put on a show. So I bided my time, made my strike when I thought it was right, and managed to get the win.”
Australia’s Tori West blasted off from the gun, hoping to claw back O’Dowda in the hunt for the silver medal, but O’Connor bided her time before closing down the leaders around the final bend.
“I knew there was going to be a tussle for the bronze,” she said, “so I didn’t really want to get caught up in that. That’s why I just kind of sat back, and let them fight it out. I was in no rush to get into the lead, I just wanted to be in the lead by the time I crossed the line. So I was able to strike with 60, 70m to go.”
Rarely if ever are these multi-event showdowns straightforward. During Tuesday night’s shot put and 200m events, O’Connor battled against torrential rain to keep her aim in sight.
“It was tough, I learned a lot in this competition,” she said. “I suppose I came in hoping I would do a huge score, because I feel I’ve done all the training to do that.
“But I suppose yesterday made me realise this is actually a championship, and it’s not about scoring big, it’s about winning medals. I had to kind of shift my focus away from scoring a new personal best to winning a gold medal, and once I did that, I really enjoyed today, enjoyed all the performances, and got the gold.”
The 25-year-old had effectively sealed the top spot after producing a sensational javelin throw in the penultimate event earlier on Wednesday, but still had to go out and complete the job in the two-lap 800m race, posting a Commonwealth heptathlon best time.
After Tuesday’s rain, conditions were more favourable for the concluding three events on Wednesday, and O’Connor was a class apart in the end. She becomes just the third woman to win athletics gold for Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, following Mary Peters in the pentathlon (1970 and 1974) and Thelma Hopkins in the high jump (1954).
After the first four events, O’Connor was already clear in the gold medal position on 3,731 points, 49 points ahead of O’Dowda overnight, who briefly took the lead after the shot put.
She then dominated the javelin on Wednesday with a first-round throw of 52.85 metres, a Commonwealth Games heptathlon best, and produced another massive performance in the long jump, saving her best effort for last in leaping out to 6.37m.
This results makes it two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals for O’Connor within the last 17 months, all won in six consecutive multi-event competitions. And she won’t have long to wait to begin her quest for medal number seven, now turning her attention to the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, which get under way on Monday week.
