NEWRY’S Kate O’Connor has edged closer to her Olympic dream after one final heroic effort to book a place on the plane for Paris next month.
Competing in Germany at the Ratingen heptathlon, Kate knew she was well short of an incredibly tough Olympic qualification standard, currently only nine women in the world have that.
But, with 24 places up for grabs, based on a ranking system, she knew she was in with a chance of moving up from her current 27th into contention.
In a weekend littered with season’s bests, Kate broke 14 seconds in the 100m hurdles, broke 25 seconds in the 200m, went over 1.75m in the high jump and managed over 14m in the shot.
She went on to throw a huge 52+ metre javelin effort, not far off the Irish record. In the final event, the 800m, she won her heat, going under 2:15.
This earned Kate a points total of 6244 which is her second best ever, better even than her Commonwealth silver medal for Northern Ireland. It also was second place in the competition.
More importantly for Kate, this superb effort catapults her into 22nd position in the rankings, with only a week to go before the qualification period closes.
