Dundalk's Kate O'Connor leaps to gold in the long jump

Dundalk athlete Kate O'Connor delivered a standout weekend at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena.

The Dundalk St. Gerard's AC star produced a personal best on the track and a championship record in the field across two impressive days of competition.

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Saturday saw O’Connor open her season in the 60m hurdles. She made 8.21 to finish second, recording an indoor PB. The time moves her to third on the Irish all-time list behind Derval O’Rourke and Sarah Lavin.

This afternoon, O’Connor returned to the arena and made an immediate impact in the women’s long jump. Her opening-round effort of 6.50m secured a new PB and set a championship record.

Speaking afterwards, she said: "I’ve been training well, and I was never going to enter myself into something I’m not training well in.

"It’s one thing doing well in training, but another thing to come out and do it when you’re under the pressure of competition.

"You’ve three chances to put in a good attempt as a multi-eventer, so I’m delighted I put that jump in on my first attempt. Last year, I made leaps and bounds forward, but I ended last year knowing I had so much more potential.

"I didn’t feel in any way that I had maxed out any of the events, and that’s what we’ve been working on all winter. This is my job now, and I’m working towards my goals for 2026."