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European Indoor Athletics: Kate O'Connor ninth in pentathlon

Updated / Friday, 3 Mar 2023 19:39
Kate O'Connor
Kate O'Connor

Kate O'Connor has finished in ninth place in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul.

O'Connor finished ninth in the concluding 800m in two minutes 20.08 seconds to record a final points tally of 4353 points as Belgian star Nafissatou Thiam set a new world record to win gold with 5055 points.

Poland's Adrianna Sulek and Thiam's compatriot Noor Vidts filled the minor podium places.

O'Connor's competition highlight came in the shot put, where the 22-year-old achieved a personal best of 14.37 metres in fourth.

"I'm the first Irish person to ever do a multi-events at a major champs, so I've got that positive thing to take away and I have to be very proud of myself," she told RTÉ Sport afterwards.

"Pentathlon isn't a strong event for me, because there's obviously no javelin, so I'm really looking forward to the outdoors."

Luke McCann finished 10th in the final of the men's 1500m in 3:44.55 in his first major final.

Lining up in a field headed by the classy Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, McCann was involved in some early barging but settled into his stride well and was well placed in fifth place at the end of the first lap.

The UCD runner dropped to sixth place by the start of the third lap and at the midway point, Ingebrigtsen was leading a breakaway which McCann was unable to keep up with.

Ingebrigtsen dictated the race from there on out, shrugging off the challenge of Britain's Neil Gourley, who had to settle for silver behind the Norwegian, with Azeddine Habz taking bronze.

McCann admitted that he was disappointed with his performance, saying: "I was just so flat out there. I wanted to be aggressive from the start and I knew that Jakob had to beat Neil but I just didn't have it today.

"I felt OK the first 800m, but coming up to 1k I felt lactic coming in and it's a long way home when you're already struggling.

"Obviously this is my first time making it through a heat and dealing with what to do and how to recover best.

"I feel like I did everything as professional as possible, that's the best I had today, I can't even walk away complaining.

"I'm really disappointed I didn't have it today, it is what it is."

Sharlene Mawdsley has bowed out at the semi-final stage in the women's 400m semi-finals.

Running in lane three, the Tipperary athlete found herself at the back of the six-runner field at the break and was unable to move up the field, finishing well off her personal best (51.91) in 53.37 and almost a second slower than her qualifying time earlier on Friday.

World record holder Femke Bol of the Netherlands won the semi-final in 52.19.

There was disappointment for Sophie Becker as a third-placed finish in her 400m heat, in a time of 53.43, was not enough to see her progress.

Cliodhna Manning did set a personal best time of 54.21 as she came home fifth in her heat.

In the women's 60m heats, Joan Healy missed out on a place in the semi-finals after finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 7.41.

The Cork native expressed disappointment in her performance, saying: "I'm really disappointed with that, just didn't get out of the blocks on that one."

Watch live coverage of the European Indoors Athletics Championships across RTÉ One, RTÉ 2, RTÉ News and the RTÉ Player.

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