heptathlon

O’Connor has enjoyed the best year of her career in 2025.

European Indoor bronze, World Indoor silver, World University Games gold and now a World Championships silver medal.

As she alluded to in the build-up, O’Connor’s success was made possible by a mindset shift after finishing 14th at last year’s Paris Olympics.

“After Paris I genuinely did have a chat with myself. I felt like I know the athlete that I can be and I had to turn to my dad and ask him did he think that himself and the team that we had around me would be able to bring me to where I wanted to get myself to,” she explained.

“I suppose we had a pretty tough conversation where I kind of set out my goals to him and told him that I was ready to put my head down and work really hard towards them, but I needed everybody else to also be there with me.

“We had to make a few changes where I felt like if the coaches were expecting more of me, I would expect more of myself, so I made sure that I was hitting these really high standards that my coaches are setting for me.”

Going into the World Championships in Tokyo, she aimed to surpass 6,500 points.

She cleared that mark by some distance, with five personal bests helping her reach 6,714 points to come second behind gold medallist Anna Hall of the United States (6,888).

And O’Connor still believes there is more to come as she builds towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“That’s one of the most exciting things for me is that I just scored 6,700 points and there’s so much there right now.

“So, what can I do with another winter behind me and another year behind me and another two years? Then obviously get to the Olympics, which will be another three.

“I don’t think I’ve reached my limit at any of the events.”

Defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson remains in heptathlon medal contention with just two events remaining in Tokyo – but rival Nafi Thiam withdrew on Saturday.

Johnson-Thompson, bidding for a third world title, will begin the final session of the competition in third place, 167 points behind American leader Anna Hall and 59 behind Taliyah Brooks.

The 32-year-old recorded a long jump best of 6.42m on Saturday, after marginally fouling on a much bigger leap with her third and final attempt, to reach 4,874 points before the javelin (11:00 BST) and 800m events (13:11).

Ireland’s Kate O’Connor dropped to fourth, 50 points outside the podium places, while GB’s Jade O’Dowda is sixth.

Belgium’s Olympic champion Thiam ended the penultimate session in eighth place – however her coach later confirmed that she would not continue.

“I withdrew her from the competition,” said Michael van der Plaetsen, according to Belgium’s national press agency, external.

Thiam, who has split the past four world golds with Johnson-Thompson, had a disrupted build-up to the championships amid a disagreement with Belgian Athletics.

The 31-year-old’s federation have rejected her claims that she was blocked from joining the team camp before the championships for refusing to sign its code of conduct, relating to a sponsor conflict.

Prior to her withdrawal, Thiam told Belgian newspaper DH Les Sports+, external: “It was difficult from the beginning. I tried to fight, to go through these difficulties, but clearly it does not follow. I have trouble explaining it myself.

“Clearly my body is not happy. I don’t want to do anything stupid, because I think that now, finishing would be for the principle.”