O'Connor wins NI's first gold medal in heptathlon

Kate O'Connor wins Northern Ireland's first gold medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games [Getty Images]Kate O'Connor has won Northern Ireland's first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in the heptathlon at Scotstoun Stadium.

>O'Connor, a world indoor and outdoor silver medallist, finished top of the standings with 6,569 points and is the first new heptathlon champion at the Games in eight years.

>England's Jade O'Dowda claimed silver while Australia's Tori West won the battle for bronze.

>It is O'Connor's first senior outdoor gold and her first gold at her third Games, after she finished eighth in 2018 and claimed silver in 2022.

>The 25-year-old becomes NI's 12th medal winner in Glasgow, claiming the country's first gold at the Games in athletics since 1986.

Kerr and Wightman revel in Wednesday warm-up for mile final • >The athlete who has never held her Olympic medal • >Wiffen wins silver as McCartney claims bronze in GlasgowO'Connor was favourite heading into the event after the late withdrawal of England's Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who beat her to gold in 2022, and she certainly lived up to the billing.

>The Newry-born athlete led after the first two events on Tuesday. She ran the 100m hurdles in 13.54 seconds and produced a season's best 1.82m in the high jump.

>In a rain-soaked evening session she dipped in the shot put, throwing just 12.85 in difficult conditions.

>While she said she was "gutted" with that performance, she rallied and she bounced back well to run the 200m in a season's best time of 24.14, which was just 0.07 off her personal best as she strolled to victory in her heat.

>She earned 3,731 points across the four events to top the standings heading into Wednesday's second day of the competition and, with a 49-point advantage over O'Dowda, looked to be in pole position for gold.

>O'Connor further increased that lead on Wednesday morning as she recorded a leap of 1.82m in the long jump and a season's best 52.85m in the javelin to move 258 points ahead.

>In the 800m, she finished first as she ran 2:10.45 to take home NI's first multi-class gold medal since Dame Mary Peters won the pentathlon in 1974.

>Her NI team-mate Anna McCauley finished eighth in the standings, despite being second-fastest in the 800m behind O'Connor.

>O'Connor will receive her gold medal on Thursday at 18:30 BST.