As a teenager Kate O’Connor achieved a top eight finish at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Four years later the heptathlete, who may also compete in the javelin in Birmingham, is hoping to use that experience to push on for a place on the podium.
“I’d like to think I have a good chance of a medal. I have put in the hard work but I know it is going to be stacked," she says.
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"I know I’m not just going to turn up and win something easily I’ll have to put in a really good performance and I know the other girls will put it up to me and hopefully I’ll put it up to them as well. It will be fun and exciting.
“To win a medal you are going to have to do a big score I have got to bring my A game. But all the rest of the girls have got to bring their A game, too.
“I can’t wait. Ever since the last one I have been literally counting down the days and the weeks to this one so hopefully I can go out and put in a better performance that I did last time.
“Eighth was a good position considering I was only 17 and I didn’t have the best competition of my life, so I really want to go out and better that and I’d really like to come away with a medal but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the last couple of years.
"Obviously everybody had to deal with Covid, so it was just training to get through training and compete with the top girls through that kind of time period and I also dealt with injuries. In those four years I almost scored 6,300 points so I’m 500 to 600 points ahead of where I was at the last Commonwealth Games, and I think I’m going into this one really competitive.”
The Newry-born athlete, who represents St Gerard’s in Dundalk, narrowly missed out on the Tokyo Olympics.
She said: “Last year after I scored my 6297 points (Irish record in heptathlon), I got a foot injury on my take off leg which was probably one of the most devastating things I have ever had to deal with. I was so close to getting to the Olympics I just needed to do one more half decent heptathlon and I’d be there.
"I tried to do it but unfortunately it just wasn’t in the plan for me so having to deal with that was pretty tough. It took me a while to get over it but I have definitely come back stronger.”
The heptathlon starts with the 100m hurdles. O’Connor finished 11th in the event at the Gold Coast but has been working hard to improve.
She added: “Back then hurdles was a real low event for me. I was just always trying to get through the hurdles and get to the high jump with is one of my favourite events and that is where I got a lot of points back.
“Since then, my hurdles have come on. In the hurdles I don’t gain too many points but I don’t lose too many either.
"I’d call myself solid. A lot of my events have come on since Gold Coast, thankfully.”
O’Connor was only a few centimetres short of winning the heptathlon javelin and was able to gain a lot of points in that discipline.
“Javelin is one of my favourite events. It is an event I love going into because I know I can pull back some points in it," she said.
“It is just a fun event I love training for it. I love competing in it.
"It is just chilled, and you can sort of play around with the crowd at that time and it is just sort of relaxing before the big 800m.”
With seven events to train for, O’Connor explains her training regime.: "Typically we try to hit each event twice a week but coming up to competition time I try to focus in on events where I feel in lacking in slightly or I need a lit bit of extra work.
"It is difficult you can’t neglect any events they are all equally just as important, but it is important to make sure every event is at a competitive standard. So for heptathlon we have a set training plan that I try to hit every week but we always say it is a moving plan and it can often change.
“There is a lot of training which takes a lot of time. I would generally get to SINI (Sports Institute of Northern Ireland) about 9am in the morning and wouldn’t leave until 4pm, it takes a lot of my time but I love it.
“When I’m not training, I’m sitting at home thinking what am I going to do with my day. I have great people here and a really good support system which I am very lucky to have and I have a enjoyable time training.”
It was at school where O’Connor decided to pursue heptathlon.
She said: “Whenever I was about seven or eight I was long jumping, doing the 800m and ball throw, as you get older you transition from ball throw into javelin. I would be doing the 800m as well as javelin at national championships and there would always be timetable clashes because there are not many 800m runners that throw the javelin, so I was going from one place to the other.
“My parents kind of realised that I was an all-rounder, but we had no idea what heptathlon was. My dad always claims he knew but I don’t think he really did.
“I got into secondary school and I did my first ever schools' pentathlon which is where I got my first taste of multi-events doing different things and going from one place to another, dealing with he highs and the lows. So it was through school doing competitions then I picked up the other two events and now here I am a heptathlete.”
O’Connor’s younger sister Maeve is following in her elder sibling’s footsteps.
“My younger sister is 15 and she is trying to pick up the heptathlon and who knows we might see her at the next Commonwealth’s as well. Every time she trains with me people say she is going to come and beat you soon enough, so I have to watch my back," the senior sibling added.
"She is great. She really enjoys it, and she is going to be a good athlete in the future.”
Team NI are sending two heptathletes to the Alexander Stadium as Anna McCauley will also line up in the field.
“The two of going is really exciting. I don’t know the last time there we two NI athletes in the same event," O'Connor added.
"It will be nice knowing some one in the field. I assume we’ll be rooming together so it will be good.
“We’ll motivate each other, push each other on and Anna is a great girl. I would say every athlete is competitive.
"I want to beat her she probably wants to beat me, but I want the best result and I’ll be happy for her whatever she does.”
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