Kate O’Connor rewrote the history books but is keen to add another chapter to another storied summer before next month is out.
The absence of two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson from the Commonwealth Games heptathlon made O’Connor the one to beat, a new feeling for the Northern Irish athlete.
Her silver medal at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo underlined her potential, but there’s winning on paper and winning in practice.
She’s the first Northern Ireland team member to win gold here, the first track and field athlete to top the podium in 40 years and the first woman to do so since Dame Mary Peters in 1974.
And while the emotion of her first major senior championship title came in a blur, there won’t be long to reset her focus before the European Championships in Birmingham in just 13 days.
A rested Johnson-Thompson, who prioritised that event over Glasgow, awaits, along with Swiss star Annik Kälin and others in a stacked field. Triple Olympic and European champion Nafissatou Thiam is not competing as she continues a cautious comeback from injury.
O’Connor’s winning score of 6,569 points at Scotstoun was well short of Kälin’s world-leading 6,819, but the 25-year-old didn’t just have to battle the new pressures of expectation here – she also had to contend with the elements. At times it didn’t just rain; it was biblical.
“I came here wanting to score somewhere in the 6,700s, or even higher, because I felt I was in that kind of shape,” she said.
“My coaches reminded me that championships aren’t about big scores – they’re about competing. You have to deal with whatever conditions you’re given, and with the rain and cold I think I produced a very good score. Hopefully at the Europeans in Birmingham it’ll be warmer and I’ll have another chance to chase that bigger total.
“I’m not worried about the turnaround before Birmingham. I’ll just treat these last few days as really good training.
“It’s not a difficult journey home and my body feels good. I feel healthy and I don’t think I emptied the tank out there, so I’m looking forward to what’s next.
“Being one of the favourites was a completely new experience for me. Last year I learned what it was like to carry the expectation of being in medal contention, but this was the first time I’d gone into a championships as someone people expected to win gold. That brings a different kind of pressure.”
O’Connor finished eighth in 2018 and claimed silver behind Johnson-Thompson four years later in Birmingham.
But it was only last year that her life changed: pentathlon silver and bronze at the World and European Indoor Championships, gold at the World University Games and that famous silver in Tokyo.
Records and personal bests were rewritten and then rewritten again, with her Irish national record of 6,714 points meaning she ended the season ranked second in the world.
After admitting her frustration with her opening day, she recorded a solid leap of 1.82m in the high jump, a season’s best 52.85m in the javelin and won the concluding 800m at a canter. Her winning margin over England’s silver medallist Jade O’Dowda was a huge 291 points.
“As an athlete you’re always looking ahead to the next competition, so you don’t always stop to appreciate what you’ve achieved,” she added. “Hearing those things makes you realise just how special it is.”
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