Ireland's newly crowned World Athletics Championships medallist Kate O'Connor revealed just how deep she had to dig to win heptathlon silver in Tokyo.
O’Connor won the silver medal following an incredible fifth personal best from seven events, as she clocked two minutes 9.56 seconds in the concluding 800m.
The Dundalk St Gerard's athlete produced the performance of her life despite sustaining a knee injury during the long jump in the morning session.
The gold was taken by Anna Hall of the United States, who came home first in the 800m in 2:06.08.
O'Connor’s day one performance meant that she was firmly in the hunt for a podium finish after the 100m hurdles, high jump and 200m all produced magic moments for O'Connor, with a commendable performance in the shot put.
She started today’s session with the long jump and revealed afterwards that she picked up an injury that caused her problems throughout the rest of the events.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's David Gillick, O'Connor said: "Yesterday I had a dream day and I genuinely enjoyed every single second of that competition and obviously was in second position afterwards.
"Then today I had a pretty solid long jump, but on the last jump, I really hurt my knee and I didn't know what was going happen in the javelin.
"I had my team around me that was filling me with positive thoughts, then I did one practice throw before that javelin competition and I was just going off pure vibes from them guys telling me that I can go out and do it.
"I'm just so happy that I was able to pull it together and then a PB in the 800m too. I was just running off pure adrenaline, because again, my knee isn't in the best of shape.
"I'm just so happy that I was able to represent Ireland so well and be the first person in a long time to have won a medal outdoors for our country is just insane.
"With the work that's gone on behind the scenes, it's just lovely that it's coming out now on the world stage."
Ladies and gentlemen, Ireland's World Heptathlon silver medalist 🥈
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 20, 2025
A proud nation tonight 🇮🇪 #RTEWorldAthletics #TeamIreland pic.twitter.com/1PFyb4XgNv
The 800m proved to be decisive for O'Connor who went into the final event sitting in second place and knowing what she needed to do to stay there.
The 24-year-old finished in seventh place in the 800m, ahead of her main challenger Taliyah Brooks and just behind Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson, her other contender for those podium spots.
"I was just watching the back of Kat and I was like, don't let her get more than 10 seconds ahead of you.
"I went into it and I really wanted the silver medal, I wasn't going to settle this for the bronze. Um, and I just decided I was going to give it my absolute everything.
"I fought so hard for the last two days and I would, I was never going to go down without a fight. and I think that, I'm a severe competitor.
"I'm going to fight for every single point that's out there and I think I did that over the last two days."
Watch the final day of the World Athletics Championships on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 11.15pm on Saturday
