Kate O'Connor leapt to a lifetime best of 6.55m in the heptathlon long jump on Saturday morning at the European Championships. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
She has more than a chance. She’s in control.
Kate O’Connor’s morning work moved her in the right direction. The leaderboard was climbed two precious places. She will enter Saturday evening’s 800m in the gold medal position.
Following a long jump lifetime best of 6.55m and a solid 50.16m in her favoured javelin discipline, O’Connor’s six-event total of 5,812 is 51 points clear of Emma Oosterwegel in second. Fellow Dutch multi-eventer and World Indoor champion Sofie Dokter is third and 71 points adrift of the Irish leader.
To maintain the podium’s top spot through two laps of the Alexander Stadium track, O’Connor must finish within 3.5 seconds of Oosterwegel and 4.9 seconds of Dokter.
Oosterwegel’s 800m PB is a second better than O’Connor’s 2:09.56, whereas Dokter has never broken 2:10.
The obvious conclusion to therefore draw is that Oosterwegel has no choice but to pour on the pace. O’Connor’s ability to keep close contact with whatever the Dutch is churning out will decide gold.
Sitting 105 points clear of Annik Kälin in fourth, an Irish medal is nailed on. Kate will have her magnificent seven. The six-in-a-row podium-climbing championship streak of the past 18 months will be extended and continued.
Ireland will have its 24th European Championship medal. The curiosity is the colour. Can her own magnificent seven be a seventh ever Irish gold?
“I’m feeling pretty positive, I’m in a strong enough position,” said the 25-year-old. “Now it’s just time to rest, relax, and think tactics in a couple of hours.
“I’m happy with my long jump. Javelin, I was trying to navigate the winds, but I can’t really make any excuses, I just didn’t execute well.
“But I’ve got a healthy-ish lead, but I’ll have a job to do later. It’s going to be really stiff. I knew that coming in here. I think I’ve given myself every opportunity to do what I came here to do, I’ve just got one more event to go to try to do it. I’ll give it my all.”
Tension, self-inflicted pressure, and phenomenal relief invaded O’Connor during her “up and down” Friday evening session at the Alexander Stadium. Back on track Saturday morning, shock was the first face she pulled.
In her opening long jump effort, O’Connor was in disbelief as she climbed out of the sandpit. It was good. Very good. But how good?
The scoreboard confirmed her suspicions that something special had been leapt. 6.55m. A lifetime best. A lifetime best by 5cm. The wind reading of +2.0m/s was both favourable and legal. She roared and swung the arms in pumped-up delight.