RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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"I'm not turning up to championships to come second and third, I want to be top."
Kate O'Connor's objective heading into the Commonwealth Games was clear.
She was on the podium plenty of times in a breakthrough 2025, but not in a senior event with a gold medal around her neck.
The 25-year-old claimed silver in both the World indoor and outdoor Championships as well as bronze in the European indoors.
But she wanted more in 2026 and to finally claim that milestone outdoor gold.
On Wednesday, after two remarkable days of the heptathlon, she completed that mission and scooped her biggest prize to date, Team Northern Ireland's first gold of the Glasgow Games and the country's first in athletics since 1986.
On Thursday evening at Scotstoun Stadium she will finally stand top of the podium and receive that gold medal.
So, how does it feel for O'Connor to tick off one of her big goals of 2026?
"It's pretty special," she told BBC Sport NI.
"It's all still a bit of a whirlwind. The last two days were really tough but I enjoyed today. I showed the competitive side of me which I had to do because people were nipping at my heels right until the very end."
O'Connor wins NI's first gold medal in heptathlon
The Englishwoman's withdrawal paved the way for a good shot at that coveted gold, but she still had to go out and deliver.
O’Connor ended on 6,569 points, 291 ahead of her nearest challenger, England's Jade O’Dowda, but it wasn’t all straightforward.
Resilience is a key trait for any sportsperson, but particularly a heptathlete.
Fortunes can fluctuate across the seven events so it is needed in ample supply to come out on top at the end of two days of competition.
It was particularly pertinent for O'Connor in a rain-soaked second session of the event on Tuesday evening.
After a good start in the morning, that brought a third-place finish in the 100m hurdles and a season's best 1.82m in the high jump, O'Connor struggled in the shot put and dipped well below her high standards by throwing just 12.85m as the torrential rain hammered down.
She said trying to grip the shot put in that rain was akin to trying to lift a bar of soap and that she was "gutted" as she "made it a lot easier for the rest of them to beat me".
Her resilience was shown in abundance in the 200m that followed as she defied the elements to easily win her heat in a time of 24.14.
The Newry-born athlete added she had to "work really hard" on Wednesday and that she did, finishing with a flourish.
First came a big leap of 6.37m in the long jump, then another season's best, this time in the javelin, of 52.85m that far exceeded those around her.
It will be particularly satisfying as that was an event she had worked hard at improving heading into 2026.
All that was left was to hold her nerve in the 800m and she did that and more, cruising to victory in a time of 2:10.46 just as the sun broke through for the celebrations at Scotstoun.
"I came here expecting a lot from myself and I really wanted to score like 6,600 or 6,700 and open up my season because that's the shape I felt I was in," she added.
"After day one I had to raincheck myself a bit, it's not always about getting huge big scores but competing and getting the best out of yourself with the elements and challenges.
"I tried to navigate it as best as I could. The shot put didn't go to plan, it needs work in those conditions, but I'm happy overall with how I did.
"There's a lot of positives to take from it. I've got a gold medal round my neck so I can't say much more."
O’Connor can now look forward to a few weeks off before going again in the European Championships in August.
Her performances in Glasgow will have raised the expectation levels for her again but O'Connor is getting used to dealing with and taking all that outside noise in her stride.
"I have a lot of pressure on my shoulders and expectation and I'm the person that everyone wants to beat so that comes with a lot of pressure, I just try to enjoy it as much as I can.
"I took for granted yesterday and didn't enjoy it as much as I should have but I changed that mindset today.
"For the Europeans, it'll hopefully be warmer there (in Birmingham) and hopefully I'll score a bit more and put out better performances but happy with how my season started."
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