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O'Connor during the long jump event of the Heptathlon. ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
From The 42Status Report
Kate O'Connor continues to strengthen Heptathlon medal bid at European Championships
There are two events left as O’Connor prepares for the javelin and 800m later today.
KATE O’CONNOR CONTINUES to strengthen her bid for a medal as the second day of the Heptathlon gets underway at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
O’Connor is still in the bronze medal position after a brilliant display in the long jump portion of the competition this morning to leave her on 4,949 points. Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands is second on the leaderboard with 4,954 points while Switzerland’s Annik Kälin currently leads on 4,955.
The 25-year-old O’Connor registered a personal best of 6.55m in her first attempt with a 2m/s tailwind. Her second jump was 6.26m while her third and final jump was a foul.
There are just two events left in the Heptathlon, as O’Connor prepares for the javelin later today between 11.55am and 1.13pm. The competition will conclude with the 800m later this evening between 7.45pm and 7.56pm.
O’Connor was firmly in the medal hunt after the first day of events on Friday, sitting third overall with 3,926 points, trailing Adrianna Sulek-Schumbert of Poland (3,968) and the Netherlands’ Sofie Dokter (3,944) at that point.
She made a strong start to the day in the 100m hurdles, clocking a personal best of 13.30 to finish fourth in heat two, and place 11th overall. O’Connor then cleared 1.86m to equal her high jump PB, adding 1,054 points to her total and moving her into third position overall.
In the shot put, her best throw of 13.96m left her 11th place before closing out the day with a new personal best of 23.79 seconds in the 200m.
Elsewhere at the European Athletics Championships, David Kenny and Oisín Lane were both in action in the Men’s Half Marathon Race Walk this morning. The pair clocked new personal best times as Kenny finished sixth in 1:24:49. Lane crossed the line in 11th place in a time of 1:27:09.
Written by Sinead Farrell and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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