Ireland's Kate O'Connor described her feelings as mixed after a day of personal bests left her in a strong position after the opening day of the women's heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on 14 August 2026. The 25-year-old Commonwealth gold medallist sits 42 points behind overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland, who leads on 3,968 points, with the Netherlands' Sofie Dokter now in second place, 24 points off the top.
O'Connor opened the morning session with a lifetime best of 13.30 seconds in the 100m hurdles, finishing fourth in her heat and 11th overall, in a race won by Lithuania's Beatrice Juskeviciute with a season's best of 13.09 seconds ahead of Italy's Sveva Gerevini and an athlete named Weissenberg. According to the Irish Times, that hurdles performance was enough to move her into second place overall after the morning's events, with 2,134 points putting her just one point behind Sulek-Schubert at that stage.
In the high jump, O'Connor matched her personal best by clearing 1.86m, a height also managed by Sulek-Schubert, though the Irish Times reported she narrowly missed out on 1.89m across three attempts. That clearance was worth 1,054 points and left her joint-first in the discipline, according to the same report.
What went wrong in the shot put?
O'Connor struggled badly in the shot put during the evening session, fouling her second attempt before eventually recording a throw of 13.96m, a result that dropped her down the standings. She was candid about the setback afterwards, telling this publication's sports desk that stiff competition had exposed a lingering issue with her technique.
This is really stiff competition and I let myself down again in the shot put, so I had to put my head down and work really hard out there [in the 200m]
She linked the dip in form to a loss of confidence dating back to an earlier competition in Glasgow, insisting the underlying ability remains there even if her execution has not matched it.
After Glasgow, I think I lost a bit of confidence in myself [in the shot put] which is silly because I know I'm a 14-metre thrower and know I can throw 15 metres, but I'm not really trusting my positions
She added that the issue needs to be addressed given the progress made by her rivals.
It's something we'll have to reevaluate because a lot of the girls have pushed on, so I need to figure out how I can do that too
How did she respond in the 200m?
O'Connor answered the shot put disappointment with another lifetime best, clocking 23.79 seconds to finish third in heat two of the 200m, edging out Sulek-Schubert on the line. That third personal best of the day narrowed the gap on the Polish leader to 42 points heading into Saturday.
She reflected on the mixed nature of the day, weighing the strong times against the shot put disappointment.
I'm really happy with that time and put myself somewhat back on track, but it's a little bit mixed emotions for me as I have been putting in a lot of hard work and maybe I haven't been able to fully shot that
She struck an optimistic tone about her overall standing going into the second day.
I'm in a pretty strong position for the close of day one, so I'll have to come back tomorrow and see what I can do
On the difficulty of sustaining top form across all seven disciplines, the Newry-born athlete, who competes for Dundalk St Gerard's AC, said consistency remains the biggest challenge of the multi-event format.
Parking something and moving on is the name of the game. I've had my fair share of up and down moments, just like the other girls. It's very hard to put seven perfect performances together. I've done three pretty perfect ones and one pretty bad one, so I hopefully tomorrow I will come back and do three great ones
How does this fit with her recent form?
O'Connor arrives in Birmingham on the back of a landmark year. She won Northern Ireland's first Commonwealth Games heptathlon gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, finishing on 6,569 points, and had earlier led that competition after four events before extending her advantage with strong long jump and javelin performances going into the final event. She had also claimed bronze at the World Indoor pentathlon in March 2026, setting a national record of 4,839 points behind winner Anna Hall and runner-up Sofie Dokter, the same Dutch athlete now sitting second behind her in Birmingham, according to our earlier coverage.
What happens next?
The heptathlon resumes on Saturday 15 August 2026 with the long jump at 10:25am and the javelin at 11:55am, before concluding that evening with the 800m at 7:45pm, according to The42. O'Connor will be looking to close the 42-point gap on Sulek-Schubert across those three remaining disciplines.
Elsewhere for Ireland on the opening day, Andrew Coscoran booked his place in Saturday evening's men's 1500m final by finishing fourth in his heat in 3:41.86, while Cathal Doyle lodged an appeal after falling during his heat but still completed the race. Both Ireland's men's and women's 4x400m relay teams failed to reach their respective finals, with the men's quartet finishing just one second outside the national record.
Key Facts
- Kate O'Connor trails overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert by 42 points after day one of the heptathlon in Birmingham.
- She set personal bests in the 100m hurdles (13.30 seconds) and 200m (23.79 seconds) on 14 August 2026.
- A shot put of 13.96m, including a fouled second attempt, was her weakest discipline of the day.
- The competition concludes on Saturday 15 August 2026 with the long jump, javelin and 800m.
- Ireland's Andrew Coscoran advanced to Saturday's men's 1500m final; Cathal Doyle appealed after falling in his heat.
