O'Connor secures silver in Tokyo heptathlon, Ireland multievent medal

Kate O'Connor produced a career-defining performance to win silver in the women's heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Saturday, finishing with 6,714 points behind American Anna Hall, who claimed gold with 6,888. The 24-year-old from Dundalk recorded five personal bests across the two-day, seven-event competition and set a national javelin mark, securing what reports described as Ireland's first global outdoor multievents medal.

O'Connor moved into contention on Friday with three personal bests in the opening four events, running 13.44 in the 100m hurdles, clearing 1.86m in the high jump and posting a strong 200m. After a 6.22m long jump early on Saturday briefly dropped her to fourth, she produced a competition-turning javelin throw of 53.06m on her first attempt, a personal best and new Irish record that propelled her back into second place. She closed the heptathlon with a 800m personal best of 2:09.56 to cement silver.

"It has been the year from dreams," O'Connor said earlier in the competition, adding she was trying to hold her form as long as possible and treat the worlds as a bonus. After the long jump she described the effort as "solid,"...