LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago

KATE O’CONNOR HAS won a gold medal in the heptathlon event at the Commonwealth Games.

The Newry native was the overnight leader after the opening four events on Tuesday and continued to sit at the top of the leaderboard after the long jump and the javelin portions of the competition today.

O’Connor, who was representing Northern Ireland, then finished in first place in the 800m event this evening with a time of 2:10.44 to seal her triumph.

It was a convincing victory for the 25-year-old as she finished on 6,569 points, ahead of England’s Jade O’Dowda (6,278 points), who took silver, and bronze medallist Tori West (6,104 points) of Australia.

O’Connor had been favourite to prevail this week, with her biggest rival Katarina Johnson-Thompson missing the event through injury.

Earlier today, the Dundalk AC star produced an excellent leap of 6.37m in the long jump, which earned her 965 points. She then added a season’s best throw of 52.85m in the javelin to strengthen her quest for a gold medal.

It meant she led with 5,611 points going into the final event, with O’Dowda (5,330 points) and West (5,193 points) her closest rivals.

But despite the pressure of holding the lead in the climactic stages, O’Connor finished with a flourish, as her 800m win added 958 points to her overall score.

• You can view the full results here

Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy

More to follow

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.