KATE O’Connor heads into the World Championships in the form of her life – and she has the disappointment of Paris 2024 to thank for a hugely impressive 2025 to date.
The Newry-born Dundalk woman – who became the first Irish heptathlete to compete at an Olympic Games - finished 14th in the French capital, but has bounced back in impressive style.
Within a matter of weeks in March, O’Connor landed bronze in the pentathlon at the European indoors in the Netherlands in March, before picking up World indoor silver in China.
And then in June she topped the podium in the women’s heptathlon at the World University Games in Germany, breaking her own national record and pushing O’Connor up to fourth in the world this year.
It leaves her in rude health as preparations are finalised in Tokyo, where the World Championships get under way on Saturday. And the 24-year-old admits falling below her own high standards in Paris provided the spark for all that has followed since.
“It was a real challenge to get there, and I really enjoyed the Games, but I didn’t really get to the point where I wanted to get to.
“It was kind of eye-opening to me because I’ve put in so much time, so much effort into the sport… I sat down and had like a little chat with myself after and decided that, if I was going to do it, I was going to do it properly.
“We tweaked a few things, whether that was me tweaking nutrition, sleep, giving 100 per cent at training rather than 95, and then having a conversation with the coaching team too and making them aware of what my hopes and dreams are, and whether they thought that they could come along and help me get there.
“Thankfully they were all on board, and I suppose it’s kind of everybody that’s made that progression together to get the results this year.
“It’s one thing saying it and another thing doing it, and then it’s another thing being actually able to do it. But that’s the thing with elite athletes - you’ve got to be mad and believe in yourself probably more than anybody else ever does to do these kind of things.
“Because the top, top girls in the world, they fully back themselves and fully believe in themselves. So I suppose I was lucky enough that the team around me were also able to believe in my madness, and were able to pull the results together and do some special things this year.”
That’s when the competitive instinct that has always fuelled O’Connor kicked in – from swimming, playing tennis, Gaelic football and camogie in her younger days to taking on the best at the greatest show on earth.
Injuries ensured preparation for Paris was far from perfect, and it is that sense of not quite doing herself justice which still niggles.
“Getting there was the achievement.
“The girls that I was around, it’s really tough when you’re looking at them and you’re like, ‘I know in myself that I can beat you’, but I wasn’t in the shape or the position to do it then.
“That was the gutting thing for me, knowing how much better I actually could be. I just need to get myself to that point and then be able to produce at competition.
“For that reason, the Olympics was one of the best competitions that I could have ever been at, just for that eye-opening experience and realisation of what I actually want to do in the sport.”
Los Angeles 2028 is the long-term dream, and an opportunity to show her best on the sport’s biggest stage, but for now full focus is on delivering at the National Stadium in Tokyo – and with that comes the expectation this year’s momentum brings.
“I felt the pressure straight away after that European medal and going to the World indoors; I felt pressure at that point, I felt pressure at the World University Games, just because there’s definitely more eyes on you.
“But if I can go into the World Champs in pretty good shape, I would love to break the national record again. If I did that, I would put myself in a pretty healthy position to finish high enough up the table. With multi-events, anything can happen.
“There’s a couple of girls maybe gone, or a little bit too far to catch, but you don’t know what can happen them. I would just like to finish up in the top half of the group, get a new national record and see where I stand.
“LA is the dream, to get there and be on the podium. This year has set me up nicely to kind of develop over the next three years and hopefully put myself in a position where I can be fighting to get up there.”
