KATE O’CONNOR HAS continued her gold-medal form to win the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham. 

The 25-year-old from Dundalk sprinted into the lead from the start of the 800m, the last of seven events, before tracking her nearest challenger Emma Oosterwegel.

The Dutch athlete won the race, but O’Connor kept the gap inside one second to cross in third, which was more than good enough to seal the gold. 

KATE O'CONNOR IS A EUROPEAN GOLD MEDALLIST!

Not only that, she's beaten the Irish national record.

She has well and truly written herself into the history books.

Watch all the action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. pic.twitter.com/ydRy8ILcRL

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026

It extends her collection to seven championship medals across the past 18 months.

In that time, O’Connor has won bronze at the European and World Indoors, silver at the World Indoors and Outdoors, and gold at the World University and Commonwealth Games, but this will rank as her biggest title yet.

Her final tally of 6,751 points was 38 clear of Oosterwegel, with another Dutch competitor Sofie Dokter 87 points back in third. 

“That was the most nerve-wracking 800 of my whole life,” said O’Connor.

“When I hear cheers like that for me going around those two laps, there was absolutely no way that I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers.

“With 50 metres to go, I knew I had enough in me to stay within the three seconds, and I just wanted to cruise home and just make sure that I leave here injury-free and with a gold medal wrapped around my neck.”

"When I heard cheers like that for me going around those two laps, there was no way I was going to let that gold medal slip through my fingers."

Kate O'Connor talks to David Gillick after securing European gold in the heptathlon.

Watch live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. pic.twitter.com/6ye47GKmh6

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026

She dedicated the triumph to her late grandmother, Madeline, who passed away in May. 

“It’s been a long two years. I know a lot of medals, but a lot of increasing pressure on every single competition, and each comp has been different,” O’Connor began.

“This year’s been really tough for me personally. My granny died during the year, and I don’t think I gave my dad enough credit, but it really obviously hit home for him big time.

“The way that he still turned up to training day in, day out, because this is my dream, but it’s also a dream for him too.

“I have to dedicate this medal to my granny, because she was both of our biggest fans, and she would have been jumping for joy if she was here to see this.” 

Kate O'Connor celebrates with her gold medal. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

O’Connor’s success adds to the medals won by Mark English (800m gold) and Rhasidat Adeleke (200m silver) on Thursday.

Earlier, two brilliant performances in the long jump and javelin events vaulted O’Connor to the top of the leaderboard.

Her javelin mark of 50.16m pushed her clear of Dutch duo Oosterwegel and Dokter by a margin of 51 points to second and 71 points ahead of third with one event to go.

O’Connor had earlier registered a personal best of 6.55m in the long jump to place her third overall.

She was firmly in the medal hunt after the first day of events on Friday, trailing Adrianna Sulek-Schumbert of Poland and the Dokter at that stage.

She made a strong start to the opening day in the 100m hurdles, clocking a personal best of 13.30 seconds 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 second position.

In the shot put, her best throw of 13.96m maintained second place before closing out the day with a new personal best of 23.79 seconds in the 200m to sit third overnight.

Written by Stephen Barry 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.