Latest news with #SzabinaSzucs
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
O'Connor secures gold at World University Games
Kate O'Connor has won a gold medal in the women's heptathlon at the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr in Germany. The Ireland athlete built up a total of 6487 points to break her own national record of 6297 which she set in 2021. The 24-year-old's new benchmark left her fourth in the world this year as she finished with a comfortable lead over Hungarian silver medallist Szabina Szucs (6081) and Australia's Emilia Surch, who clinched bronze at the University Games. The success continues an impressive year for the Dundalk-based athlete who collected bronze at the European Indoors at the Netherlands in March, then picked up a World Indoor silver in China. Newry-born O'Connor recorded a personal best time of 24.33 in the 200 metres on Wednesday to help take a healthy advantage into the final day of action on Thursday. The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist followed that up with a mark of 6.15m in the long jump, a throw of 51.97 in the javelin and finally a PB of 2:10.46 as she finished second in the concluding event, the 800m.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
O'Connor secures gold at World University Games
Kate O'Connor has won a gold medal in the women's heptathlon at the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr in Ireland athlete built up a total of 6487 points to break her own national record of 6297 which she set in 24-year-old's new benchmark left her fourth in the world this year as she finished with a comfortable lead over Hungarian silver medallist Szabina Szucs (6081) and Australia's Emilia Surch, who clinched bronze at the University success continues an impressive year for the Dundalk-based athlete who collected bronze at the European Indoors at the Netherlands in March, then picked up a World Indoor silver in O'Connor recorded a personal best time of 24.33 in the 200 metres on Wednesday to help take a healthy advantage into the final day of action on 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist followed that up with a mark of 6.15m in the long jump, a throw of 51.97 in the javelin and finally a PB of 2:10.46 as she finished second in the concluding event, the 800m.
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Kate O'Connor smashes Irish heptathlon record to claim World University Games gold in style
O'Connor, a master's student in communication and PR at Ulster University, was a heavy favourite going into the event and the Dundalk athlete lived up to that billing. Her tally obliterated her previous Irish heptathlon record of 6297 from 2021, putting her fourth in the world this year, and it left her a long way in front of silver medallist Szabina Szucs (6081) of Hungary and bronze medallist Emilia Surch of Australia (6068). It had already been a massive year for O'Connor, who twice smashed the Irish pentathlon record indoors. She won bronze at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands before winning World Indoor silver in Nanjing, China – the first ever medals Ireland had won in the multi-events at that level. She had previously won heptathlon silver at the European U-20 Championships and at the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland. On Wednesday morning, she made a shaky start in the 100m hurdles, clocking 13.89, some way down on her best of 13.57. But she bounced back with a hugely impressive 1.83m in the high jump, the second highest clearance of her career, before throwing 13.76m in the shot put. She closed the day in superb fashion, smashing her 200m personal best with 24.33, leaving her well clear in the overnight standings. She started day two in decent fashion with 6.15m in the long jump before throwing an impressive 51.87m in the javelin. That left her just needing to avoid calamity in the concluding 800m to take gold but, aware that she was on for a huge national record, O'Connor emptied the tank, hitting the line second in a lifetime best of 2:10.46. Given her sub-par performances in the hurdles and shot put, she has scope for more improvement as she looks ahead to the Tokyo World Championships in September. She is the eighth Irish competitor to have won gold at the World University Games. On the track, Ronnie Delany won over 800m in 1961; Niall Bruton and Sonia O'Sullivan took 1500m glory in 1991; while Thomas Barr won the 400m hurdles in 2015. In swimming, Gary O'Toole won the 200m breaststroke in 1991 and Shane Ryan won the 50m backstroke in 2017, while golfer Danielle McVeigh won individual gold in 2007. Elsewhere, Lauren Roy came home fourth in her semi-final of the women's 200m, clocking 24.07 into a stiff 2.5m/s headwind, her time not enough to advance as a non-automatic qualifier.
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Kate O'Connor in pole position for gold at World University Games
O'Connor racked up 3737 points on day one, leaving her 137 points clear of Hungary's Szabina Szucs, with Austria's Emilia Surch third on 3552. O'Connor, a master's student in communication and PR at Ulster University, started the day with a 13.89-second clocking in the 100m hurdles, some way down on her best of 13.57. But she bounced back with a hugely impressive 1.83m in the high jump, the second highest clearance of her career, which she went over at her first attempt. That left her atop the leaderboard on 2010 points, and O'Connor extended her lead in the shot put, throwing 13.76m. She closed the day in spectacular fashion, smashing her personal best over 200m with 24.33, her previous best being the 24.73 she ran in 2022. It's already been a record-breaking year for the 24-year-old, who won pentathlon bronze at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands before winning World Indoor silver in Nanjing, China. She smashed the Irish pentathlon record twice indoors, and is on track to smash her Irish heptathlon record of 6297, which dates back to 2021. Her current tally of 3737 points is well clear of the 3666 she had amassed at the same point of the competition when she set the national record. O'Connor will be back on track on Thursday morning for the heptathlon long jump, with the javelin in the early afternoon and the climactic 800m at 7.12pm Irish time. A live stream is available on Just four Irish athletes have ever won gold at the World University Games: Ronnie Delany over 800m in 1961; Niall Bruton and Sonia O'Sullivan over 1500m in 1991; and Thomas Barr in the 400m hurdles in 2015. Barring injury or any major glitches on day two, O'Connor is likely to add her name to that list. She is strong in all the remaining events, having improved her long jump best to 6.32m this year and her 800m best to 2:11.42, while the javelin is usually her forte. Her best of 52.92m dates to 2019 and this will be her first time throwing it in competition since last year's Paris Olympics. Elsewhere, Jack Raftery came home fourth in the men's 400m final, the Dubliner unable to quite reproduce his recent heroics at the European Team Championships, where he became the second Irishman in history after David Gillick to break 45 seconds. Raftery left himself a difficult task after finishing third in his semi-final, which saw him drawn on the difficult inside lane for the final. Nonetheless he charged into medal contention off the final bend but couldn't quite pull it off, coming home fourth in 45.69, with gold going to South Africa's Lythe Pilay in 44.84. Lauren Roy advanced to the semi-finals of the women's 200m after finishing second in her heat in 23.57. Meanwhile, Sarah Lavin was in action in Eisenstadt, Austria, the Limerick athlete clocking 12.83 (+1.3m/s) to finish third in the women's 100m hurdles, with Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska taking victory in 12.72. Lavin had earlier clocked 12.92 to finish runner-up in the heats.
