O'Connor wins European heptathlon gold with Irish record
Kate O'Connor won the heptathlon gold at the European Championships in Birmingham on 15 August 2026, setting an Irish record of 6,751 points. She sealed the title by finishing the final 800 metres close enough to nearest challenger Emma Oosterwegel to preserve her overall lead.
The Newry-born 25-year-old entered the concluding 800m with a 51-point advantage over Oosterwegel and needed to finish within 3.4 seconds of her rival to secure victory. Oosterwegel won the 800m in 2:10.87 while O'Connor clocked 2:11.74, finishing third in the race behind Italy's Sveva Gerevini. This European gold followed O'Connor's Commonwealth Games victory for Northern Ireland in July and her silver at last year's World Championships.
Reflecting on the win, O'Connor paid tribute to family and acknowledged the pressure of recent seasons. "A couple of years ago, I probably wouldn't have thought this would happen to me," O'Connor told RTE Sport. "It's been a long two years. I know there's been medals [won], but there is an increase in pressure with every competition, so each has been different to try and navigate that and this competition has been no different. It's been difficult from start to finish and I didn't have it easy for a second. "This year has been really tough from outside - my granny dies earlier this year and I don't think I give my dad enough credit, but it hit home for him and the way he turned up to training day-in and day-out... "This is my dream, but it's his dream too and I have to dedicate this medal to my granny because she was both of our biggest fans and would have been jumping for joy if she was here."
O'Connor began day two in third place after four events, 42 points behind overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert, having produced personal bests in the 100m hurdles (13.30secs) and 200m (23.79) on Friday. She matched her best of 1.86m in the high jump and threw 13.96m in the shot put. On Saturday morning she recorded a long jump of 6.55m and a javelin throw of 50.16m, taking her overall total to 5,812 points — 51 ahead of Oosterwegel, who had moved into second with Sofie Dokter third while Poland's Sulek-Schubert dropped to seventh.
The title came down to the 800m on Saturday evening, with O'Connor, representing Dundalk St Gerard's AC, charging into an early lead before Oosterwegel asserted herself and Gerevini mounted a challenge. While Oosterwegel passed the Italian to win the race, O'Connor remained within a second of the winner and that margin was sufficient to secure the gold. "That was the most nerve-racking 800 of my life," O'Connor said. "I had a job to do and I know I've had quite a few jobs to do over these last few days - some I've executed and some I haven't. "I was so nervous before that run, but when I hear cheers like that for me [from the Irish support] going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers. "I did want to win the race, but with 50 metres to go I knew I had enough in me to stay within the three seconds and I just wanted to leave here injury-free and with a gold medal around my neck."
Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished last in the first 800m heat and was 21st overall, having come into the competition after competing just once - at a shot put event in Loughborough in May - since claiming bronze at last year's World Championships in Tokyo. "It is obviously far from my best," Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport. "Not the competition I would have wanted, but in a way it is. I finished. "As a heptathlete it is not easy to come into a competition not in shape. You can't get knocked out in a heat and go home. It was important to me that I finished. I wanted to do it for them [coaching team and physiotherapist] as we worked so hard to be here. "I have been coming here since English schools. I have been coming here a long time and I have been an athlete for a long time. It has been great to experience the stadium." Her GB team-mate Jade O'Dowda finished 13th with 6,191 points after a fifth-place finish in heat one of the 800m.
O'Connor finished top of the final standings with 6,751 points; Emma Oosterwegel took silver on 6,713 and Netherlands' Sofie Dokter claimed bronze on 6,664.
