Katarina Johnson-Thompson says she still has the hunger to compete for major honours after she managed to complete the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships following a difficult season.
The two-time world champion wore a broad smile on her face as she crossed the finish line of the concluding 800m event to warm cheers from her home support in Birmingham.
Johnson-Thompson said at the end of the first day of competition on Friday that she was "just happy to be here" following an injury-hit year during which she has barely competed.
The 33-year-old Olympic silver medallist placed 21st out of the 21 athletes to complete the seven events on Saturday, as British team-mate Jade O'Dowda finished 13th and Ireland's Kate O'Connor claimed gold.
"I am thinking of the future. I have always said I want to be competitive. If I'm not competitive, I will start asking questions," Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport.

#johnson #katarina #athletics

Katarina Johnson-Thompson says she still has the hunger to compete for major honours after she managed to complete the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships following a difficult season.
The two-time world champion wore a broad smile on her face as she crossed the finish line of the concluding 800m event to warm cheers from her home support in Birmingham.
Johnson-Thompson said at the end of the first day of competition on Friday that she was "just happy to be here" following an injury-hit year during which she has barely competed.
The 33-year-old Olympic silver medallist placed 21st out of the 21 athletes to complete the seven events on Saturday, as British team-mate Jade O'Dowda finished 13th and Ireland's Kate O'Connor claimed gold.
"I am thinking of the future. I have always said I want to be competitive. If I'm not competitive, I will start asking questions," Johnson-Thompson told BBC Sport.

#thompson #complete #katarina #athletics

Ireland's Kate O'Connor is in pole position for heptathlon gold with one event remaining at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, but Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson finds herself out of contention.
Newry-born O'Connor entered Saturday morning in third place after four events on Friday, 42 points behind overnight leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert, but her personal best form continued in the long jump with an initial effort of 6.55m.
The 25-year-old Commonwealth Games' gold medallist followed up with 50.16 in the javelin to take her overall total to 5812 points, 51 ahead of Netherlands' Emma Oosterwegel [5761] with another Dutch athlete, Sofie Dokter [5741] in third.
Poland's Sulek-Schubert dropped to seventh after a disappointment start to Saturday.
Johnson-Thompson's struggles continued following an injury-hit build-up.

#Gold

Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson said injuries have held her back as she struggled on day one of the heptathlon at the European Championships.
Two-time world champion Johnson-Thompson has never won a European heptathlon ***** le, taking silver in 2018 behind Belgian great Nafissatou Thiam.
While three-time Olympic champion Thiam is absent, Johnson-Thompson's own injury issues meant her form leading into the championships was unknown.
The 33-year-old had competed just once - in the shot put at an event in Loughborough in May - since winning world bronze in Tokyo last September.
And a lack of competition time was evident as she finished the first day of the heptathlon in 16th place - 324 points behind leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland.

#heptathlon #great

Ireland's Kate O'Connor had "mixed emotions" after day one of the women's heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
The 25-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medallist trailed leader Adrianna Sulek-Schubert by one point after the morning session that saw her record a personal best in the 100m hurdles and equal her PB in the high jump, but dropped to third after the evening events.
A 10th-place finish saw O'Connor drop back, but a third PB of the day in the 200m saw her narrow the gap to 42 points on Poland's Sulek-Schubert on 3968 points with Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands now in second, 24 points behind the leader.
The heptathlon continues on Saturday morning with the long jump and javelin, while the event concludes in the evening with the 800m.
"This is really stiff competition and I let myself down again in the shot put, so I had to put my head down and work really hard out there [in the 200m]," Newry-born O'Connor told BBC Sport after the 200m.

#points #sulek #schubert #Third

Northern Ireland bowlers Adam McKeown and Gary Kelly have won Commonwealth Games gold in the men's pairs after a dramatic extra-end win over England's Nick Brett and Jamie Walker.
McKeown and Kelly won the first set 6-2 but Brett and Walker won the second 6-2 to level - before the Northern Ireland pair prevailed to win the tiebreak 1-0.
It is a third gold medal for Northern Ireland at the Games in Glasgow after Kate O'Connor won the heptathlon and Jon McConnell's men's 70kg boxing success on Saturday.
It is a fourth Commonwealth medal for Kelly, and he finally adds gold to the bronze medals he won earlier in the Games in the singles and in Delhi in 2020, and his silver in Birmingham four years ago.
It is a second gold for McKeown after he won the fours with Northern Ireland in 2022.

#games #Gold #brett #walker

Northern Ireland's Kate O'Connor is three events away from a first Commonwealth Games gold medal as she leads the heptathlon after the opening four events in Glasgow.
In the absence of Katarina Johnson-Thompson, England's Jade O'Dowda is in second place, 55 points down on O'Connor, as rain hammered Scotstoun Stadium for the evening session.
Australia's Mia Scerri is a distant third but England's Niamh Emerson is in medal contention in fourth place.
The heptathlon concludes on Wednesday with the long jump, javelin and 800m.
O'Connor finished second in Birmingham in 2022 behind Johnson-Thompson, who pulled out of the Commonwealths on the eve of the Games, but is now in a strong position heading into the second day of competition.

#o 'connor #games #johnson #thompson

Team Northern Ireland's Kate O'Connor leads the women's heptathlon after two events at Scotstoun Stadium.
O'Connor registered 2047 points, while fellow Team NI athlete Anna McCauley sits sixth on 1912.
McCauley set a new personal best of 13.70 seconds in the 100m hurdles and finished first in her heat before O'Connor finished third with a time of 13.54.
The World Outdoor silver medallist then produced a season's best jump of 1.82m in the high jump, while McCauley cleared 1.73m.
England's Jade O'Dowda is currently four points behind O'Connor in second with New Zealand's Maddie Wilson occupying third.

#finished

"I'm just a Jack of all trades," jokes Lucy Woodward as she trains at Jersey's athletics track for the final time before the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The 23-year-old is set to make history in Glasgow as the first woman from Jersey to compete in a multi-event discipline in the heptathlon later this week.
She is part of a five-strong athletics team from Jersey which sees decathlete Evan Campbell joined by sprinters Zach Saunders, Steve MacKay and Jamie Oldham.
"I don't have any standout events, I always thought if I was good enough at something it might be an easier life to specialise," she tells BBC Jersey at the FB Fields athletics track where she first started multi-eventing aged 10.
"I just think the training is so diverse, every day is different. I like that you can have one bad event and then you can make up for it and it's the most interesting event if you ask me."

#athletics #multi

Jul. 14—Plenty of Illinois athletes didn't generate many headlines or social media interaction during the past 12 months, but they still racked up accomplishments in their respective fields (and oftentimes in the classroom, too). Beat writer Scott Richey spotlights 10 Illini who deserved more pub from the 2025-26 school year:
Miyoshi got it done on the court and in the classroom. The Illini senior secured his 100th career singles win in the second round of the NCAA tournament and ended the year ranked as the No. 17 singles player in the country. Off the court, the Tokyo native was Illinois' Big Ten Medal of Honor winner, earned Second Team Academic All-American status and claimed the Midwest Region's Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award.
Schaefbauer made it a clean sweep for Illinois tennis as the university's other Big Ten Medal of Honor winner. Schaefbauer progressed from the Illini's No. 6 singles player after transferring from South Carolina to playing No. 1 singles exclusively her junior and senior year. The political science major was just as proficient in the classroom and earned her third straight CSC Academic All-District and third straight ITA Scholar-Athlete honor this year.
Luuk Pelkmans' standout freshman season did outshine his fellow Dutch multi-event star to some degree. But de Greef did put up a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor championships and followed that up by qualifying for the decathlon in the NCAA outdoor championships. De Greef held the Illinois decathlon record briefly before Pelkmans took it after de Greef scored 8,039 points at the Illini Deca-Jam on April 10-11 at Demirjian Park.
Cho's 4.0 GPA in interdisciplinary health sciences helped her share Illinois' Outstanding Scholar-Athlete award for the sophomore class with Kylie Eaton (women's golf) and Ava Moore (softball). Something she accomplished while also leading the Illini women's gymnastics team. Cho was ranked as high as No. 2 on the uneven bars and No. 3 in the all-around on the national level during the 2026 season.

When Janae (Dunchack) McGuirk joined the women’s track and field program at Dartmouth College, she had a basic question for her coaches.
What’s the pentathlon? The heptathlon?
A four-time PIAA Class 2A champion in the high jump at Northern Cambria High School and a multi-sport standout on the state level with the Colts, McGuirk hadn’t encountered either event throughout her scholastic career.
“I thought I was going to Dartmouth for high jump, long jump or maybe some sprinting,” McGuirk said. “When I got there, they’re like, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to make you into a ‘multi’ (event competitor) and have you do the pentathlon or heptathlon.’
“I said, ‘What is that?’ ”

Amanda Moll must be running out of room in her trophy case.
The Washington junior was named the 2026 Big Ten Outdoor Women's Field Athlete of the Year last week after setting a new NCAA outdoor record in the pole vault to best her sister Hana and win the national ******* le, her second and the fifth consecutive between the twins.
Amanda and Hana have laid waste to the record books since arriving on Montlake, trading Big Ten ******* les, national championships, collegiate records, and postseason accolades over the past three seasons. Hana was the conference's Indoor Women's Field Athlete of the Year this season and the Outdoor honoree last season. Amanda won the Indoor award last year as well.
Amanda now owns the 2026 outdoor national ******* le and the 2025 indoor national ******* le. Hana has won the 2024 indoor, 2025 outdoor, and 2026 indoor championships, with only the 2024 outdoor ******* le going to a non-Moll since the twins' arrival in college.
Amanda and coach Toby Stevenson were also named West Region Women's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and Women's Outdoor ******* istant Coach of the Year, respectively, by the USTFCCCA last week. Moll shared the award with Stanford's Alyssa Jones, the NCAA long jump champion. Stevenson won the award for his efforts in coaching all 28 points worth of Washington's seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoors earlier this month, including the Moll twins and heptathlon national champion Sofia Cosculluela.