Inside Track: Kate adds another accolade to her collection

If Kate O’Connor’s career is a jigsaw, there were many pieces already in place before she was named the country’s Athlete of the Year on Tuesday last.

The awards ceremony took place at a venue in Santry, and whether by accident or design, there couldn’t have been a more appropriate setting.

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It was at the track on Dublin’s Northside, once named after the man who was most prominent in its structure, Billy Morton, where many of the world’s greatest athletes, the likes of Herb Elliott, Ronnie Delany, John Landy, Brian Hewston and Murray Halberg, competed back in the late 1950s.

The mile record was lowered there by Elliott, an outstanding Australian athlete who succeeded Ronnie Delany as 1,500 metres Olympic champion in 1960.

Given all that she’s achieved this year, heptathlete O’Connor had to be a shoo-in for the Athletics Ireland award. She has established herself as one of the country’s most successful multi-event athletes, maybe second only to Olympic Gold medalist, Mary Peters.

Her outstanding year’s performances were highlighted by a Silver at the World Championships in Tokyo, the Dundalk girl becoming only the sixth Irish athlete to medal at the outdoor event, that ranks second for prestige to only the Olympics. Another of Ireland’s great middle-distance runners, Éamonn Coghlan, was the first.

She had a top-three finish in all of the four international championships in which she competed, improving on her own Irish record each time.

Her successes were achieved indoor as well as outdoor, and as she continues on the road, she hopes leads to Los Angeles in 2028, there’ll be many opportunities to add to her medal haul.

Coming up next year are the World Indoor Championships in Poland, and the outdoor European Championships in Birmingham. And as she was born in Newry, the 25-year-old qualifies to compete in the Commonwealth Games, going ahead in Glasgow.

More pieces to the jigsaw?