Kate O'Connor's explosive rise over the last year has been built on incredible graft and unshakeable self-belief, but the Dundalk multi-event athlete is not shying away from declaring her ambition to reach even greater heights.
She had an epic 2025: pentathlon bronze at the European Indoors, pentathlon silver at the World Indoors, heptathlon gold at the World University Games and then heptathlon silver in Tokyo at the World Championships.
That raised her profile massively; it raised expectations too, with O'Connor admitting she's had to learn how to deal with the spotlight heading into big events.
Still, it seems the 25-year-old is learning fast. Back in March, another medal was added to the collection when O'Connor picked up pentathlon bronze at the World Indoors in Poland.
"I had an unbelievable 2025," she told RTÉ Sport. "I enjoyed every second of it and obviously won quite a few medals and I think there was some sort of pressure coming into 2026 to continue that form. The fact I went out and won a world bronze medal and a new national record in March in Poland was a great start to 2026.
"I don't feel like I've reached my limit in any sort of way and I don't think that I even know what my limit is. My coaches say to me all the time they have no idea where to stop or when we will stop. That's the exciting thing with multi-events as well... there's seven events to spread your focus on so there's always something to learn.
"That's what I love about the event, my brain is constantly working and if something's not going well I can turn my head to another event and try to perfect that one."
"Leading up to World Indoor champs it was probably the most pressure I've ever felt before."
The LA Games in 2028 is always in her mind, a slow-burning fuel driving her to stay on the right course. In the shorter term, there's other targets. O'Connor is heading into a training block to get ready for the Commonwealth Games in July, and the European Championships in August.
"Ultimately I'm always looking towards LA," she said. "I want to be on the podium, I want to be on top spot there and I think everything that I do between now and then is working towards that goal.
"My body's all good at the moment. We took a couple of weeks off after the World Indoors just to chill out, get my body reset get everything checked out so I'm back on track and I'm back training. We're actually heading out on a training camp very soon so that'll be nice just to get away into a bit of heat where I can run quick. I'm looking forward to the outdoor (season). Full steam ahead."
Hugely ambitious, ferociously dedicated, O'Connor admits she's felt the effects of life at the sharpest end of elite competition. She continues to learn new lessons in the pursuit of excellence.
"I think that last year I was turning up and I didn't have that weight of, 'are you going to win a medal?' on my shoulders, whereas now there's a lot more expectation, and it's definitely different," she added.
"Leading up to World Indoor champs it was probably the most pressure I've ever felt before and I had a few things that came to light because of that. It's going to be something that I'll work on behind the scenes.
"Leading up to European or World Indoor champs I got a stye in my eye which I'd never had before... that's down to stress and probably not sleeping great. I think that hopefully at the European champs I'll be a little bit more well equipped for dealing with those pressures and just understanding that everyone's there supporting me.
"It's pressure but it's in a good way. Everyone's just willing me on to do well and want me to do well so yeah I think that's kind of the mindset that I'll try to turn it into.
"Everything that I've been doing is feeding into towards LA. I would love if I could turn up to LA completely bulletproof (having) gone through absolutely everything. I'm sure that's not going to be the case but I'm just enjoying the process, enjoying all the lessons that I'm learning with it and yeah I'm sure there'll be many more to come."
