The girl done gud

[watty]

Kate O'Connor wins historic silver in heptathlon following fifth personal best

Kate O'Connor won the silver medal in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships following an incredible fifth personal best from seven events, as she clocked two minutes 9.56 seconds in the decisive 800m.  The Dundalk St Gerard's athlete secured the silver despite sustaining a knee injury during the long jump in the morning session.

The 24-year-old becomes the first Irish woman to medal at a major championships in a multi-discipline sport - Tom Kiely won Olympic all-around (the predecessor to the decathlon) gold representing Great Britain and Ireland in 1904 - and only the sixth Irish athlete to medal at the Worlds, the first since Rob Heffernan 12 years ago.

[silverbullet]

Kate O'Connor wins historic silver in heptathlon following fifth personal best

Kate O'Connor won the silver medal in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships following an incredible fifth personal best from seven events, as she clocked two minutes 9.56 seconds in the decisive 800m.  The Dundalk St Gerard's athlete secured the silver despite sustaining a knee injury during the long jump in the morning session.

The 24-year-old becomes the first Irish woman to medal at a major championships in a multi-discipline sport - Tom Kiely won Olympic all-around (the predecessor to the decathlon) gold representing Great Britain and Ireland in 1904 - and only the sixth Irish athlete to medal at the Worlds, the first since Rob Heffernan 12 years ago.

Brilliant result.

[Bob Shillin]

Cian Mc Philips was extremely impressive as the only Irishman ever to reach an 800m final, finishing fast 4th. If he had kicked earlier, who knows. Shows great future potential.

[watty]

Must be an amazing feeling for lesser ranked athletes to win a medal like that.  Kate O'Connor did 5 personal bests out of 7 events to win that medal.  And the look on her face afterwards - WHAT ME? It's almost like she didn't believe it, it's a dream and she'd wake up any moment.

Must be brilliant for the parents as well.  As those years standing on the side of a track freezing their nuts off watching their kid running around in circles and thinking WTF am I doing here!  15 years later and I bet they're thinking they'd do it all again in a heartbeat!

[watty]

Another girl done gud.  In swimming this time! 

Róisín Ní Riain wins bronze at Para Swimming Worlds in Singapore

Róisín Ní Riain has claimed bronze in the S13 100m butterfly event at the Para Swimming World Championships in Singapore.

The double Paralympic medallist delivered a strong performance during the morning session, finishing second in her heat to secure a place in the final.

She then improved on her heat time to come third (1:04.47) in a strong field. Ní Riain previously won silver in this event at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester. She narrowly missed out on the podium at last year's Paralympic Games in Paris when coming fourth.

Maybe JohnM should stop betting on horses and start betting each way on Irish mares (geddit  )