Dundalk's Kate O'Connor wins bronze at World Indoor Championship

Dundalk’s Kate O’Connor won bronze at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Torun, Poland, on Sunday evening, setting a new Irish record in the women’s pentathlon.

The Dundalk St Gerard’s AC athlete scored 4,839 points across the five events to secure her place on the podium after a close finish to the competition.

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The total is a new national record and continues a remarkable run of form for the multi-eventer. O’Connor secured the medal in the final event, the 800 metres, running an indoor personal best of 2:10.26 to finish second in the race.

Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands took gold with a world-leading 4,888 points, while Anna Hall of the United States claimed silver with 4,860 after moving ahead in the final event.

O’Connor had been in the silver medal position going into the 800m and needed to stay within 2.5 seconds of Hall to hold second place, but the American’s winning run pushed O'Connor back to bronze despite her personal best effort.

The result means O’Connor has now won four major medals in the past year, including gold at the World Student Games, underlining her consistency at international level.

She opened the competition with 7.23 in the 60m hurdles, just outside her personal best, before clearing 1.81m in the high jump on her third attempt.

A strong shot put followed, where she produced two personal best throws, finishing with 14.70m to move into the medal positions.

In the long jump, she recovered from a foul in the first round to record 6.38m, moving into second place overall going into the final event.

Although the final race reshuffled the standings, O’Connor once again delivered across all five disciplines to secure another global medal and continue an outstanding run.