'O'Connor hungry for more medals after Tokyo silver'

After battling injury to become a World Championship silver medallist, Kate O'Connor was able to reflect on the biggest week of her career while enjoying a much-deserved treat.

On Saturday, O'Connor claimed heptathlon silver in Tokyo to deliver Ireland's first world track and field medal since Sonia O'Sullivan's 5,000m gold in 1995.

As the dust settled on her achievement, she was able to celebrate with some pizza.

"We came home and a load of the athletes were going out, but I just decided that I wanted to stay in," O'Connor told BBC Sport NI.

"We ordered four large pizzas and we had a couple of drinks at the hotel."

While pepperoni is often O'Connor's topping of choice, Saturday night's pizza was "a bit of a funky one".

"There were some jalapenos on it, which I wouldn't normally go for but it was quite nice," she said.

"The bit of spice was just perfect."

O'Connor's team is led by her dad Michael, with coaches Tom Reynolds and Dave Sweeney and physio Kerry Kirk all playing their part in the Newry-born athlete's success.

"It was just the close circle of people that have helped me win that medal," she added.

"It was a nice moment that we could all celebrate the hard work that we've put in together, rather than just going out and going mad. It was lovely."

However, the pizza might not have tasted so good had a knee injury picked up in the long jump been more serious.

O'Connor had six hours to wait until the javelin and O'Connor was not sure if she would be able to plant her right leg in order to throw.

"We were given 30 minutes to go out on the track before the competition started so coaches could come out to help," she said.

"Dave came in and Kerry was with me. My knee was strapped up and we had an ice pack on the whole time.

"I was praying that the pain would go away, but it didn't, so I was really stressed about that."

She added: "I had one practice throw, so I suppose in my head I was committing to one throw and give it everything and if it hurt like hell, that was OK. I was only going to do it once.

"I ended up doing two throws because Dave felt like I had more."

The javelin soared to over 53 metres on that first throw and moved O'Connor into second place, a position she refused to relinquish in the 800m.

"When I crossed the line, it was like a sense of relief because during the competition the pressure continues to build, not just from me but from outside.

"Then obviously, extreme joy."

O'Connor has enjoyed the best year of her career in 2025.

European Indoor bronze, World Indoor silver, World University Games gold and now a World Championships silver medal.

As she alluded to in the build-up, O'Connor's success was made possible by a mindset shift after finishing 14th at last year's Paris Olympics.

"After Paris I genuinely did have a chat with myself. I felt like I know the athlete that I can be and I had to turn to my dad and ask him did he think that himself and the team that we had around me would be able to bring me to where I wanted to get myself to," she explained.

"I suppose we had a pretty tough conversation where I kind of set out my goals to him and told him that I was ready to put my head down and work really hard towards them, but I needed everybody else to also be there with me.

"We had to make a few changes where I felt like if the coaches were expecting more of me, I would expect more of myself, so I made sure that I was hitting these really high standards that my coaches are setting for me."

Going into the World Championships in Tokyo, she aimed to surpass 6,500 points.

She cleared that mark by some distance, with five personal bests helping her reach 6,714 points to come second behind gold medallist Anna Hall of the United States (6,888).

And O'Connor still believes there is more to come as she builds towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

"That's one of the most exciting things for me is that I just scored 6,700 points and there's so much there right now.

"So, what can I do with another winter behind me and another year behind me and another two years? Then obviously get to the Olympics, which will be another three.

"I don't think I've reached my limit at any of the events."

O'Connor has an exciting 2026 to look forward to with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she will target gold after taking silver in 2022, before the European Championships in Birmingham.

"I think that right now, it's probably put my feet up and chill for a little while but I'm looking forward to competing and pushing myself on," she explained.

"I definitely plan on doing both, Commonwealths and Europeans and a couple more medals definitely would be lovely."

O'Connor was able to share her special moment with her dad, Michael, with whom she has forged a fruitful working relationship.

"I don't know if it really puts a strain on our relationship or if our relationship is different to other father-daughter relationships because that's just the way that it's always been with us.

"Obviously my mum is at home, God love her, I feel guilty all the time because I'm dragging him away from her while she's sitting back there minding the house!

"She's obviously so supportive as well and she loves what we do together. I think that it's a really special relationship and yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what else we can do together."