Irish athlete Kate O’Connor said she has been welcomed home with open arms following her silver medal win at the World Athletics Championships.
“It’s a bit mad and it’ll probably take a wee while to get used to everybody coming up and congratulating me and stuff,” she told The Hard Shoulder.
Ms O’Connor joked that she will have to increase her hat collection if she ever stands a chance of going out in public without being recognised again.
“It’s been really nice realising how many people actually care back at home,” she said.
“When you’re so far away, you’re in your own little bubble and you don’t really realise how many people are watching.
“The recognition has been lovely.”
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Ms O’Connor’s string of recent success began with an unexpected bronze medal in the European Athletics Championships.
She said the World Championships were the first time she felt “a little bit of extra weight in my shoulders”.
“I suppose I’ve been putting in so much work over the last year and over the last couple of years,” she said.
“I think that’s where I was taking a lot of my positivity from, was that I knew I’d done the work.
“I think that whenever you’re at the top, that expectation just comes with it, and that’s something that I hopefully get better at as the years go on.”
Kate O'Connor (Ireland) after the Heptathlon 200 metres race during the World Athletics Championships 2025 at Nationalstadium, Tokyo, Japan. Credit: SPP Sport Press Photo. /Alamy Live News. 19 September 2025However, Ms O’Connor said she knew that she wanted to come out of the competition with a medal in hand.
“I knew I had to give 100% in every single event,” she said.
“The pressure was really on before the hurdles, but luckily managed to get through that okay, got a PB (personal best).
“Once you do that I suppose you’re into a little bit of a roll, and I was just going with it and riding the wave of doing well."
Ms O’Connor said a huge part of multi-events is “learning how to deal with the pressure, and cope with the highs and the lows”.
Main image: Kate O'Connor of Ireland celebrates after winning the silver medal in the Women's heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, on September 20, 2025. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )
