Ireland’s Kate O’Connor leads the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with only the 800m remaining, placing her in contention for gold. Her strong Saturday performances moved her ahead of the Dutch contenders, while Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson fell further out of contention after an injury-affected build-up.

O’Connor scored personal-best-form long jump of 6.55m and a 50.16m javelin throw, reaching 5,812 points—51 ahead of Emma Oosterwegel and 71 ahead of Sofie Dokter. Johnson-Thompson is 19th on 5,032 points, 780 behind O’Connor, while Amy Hunt will seek a third Birmingham gold in the women’s 4x100m final and Dina Asher-Smith targets a seventh European gold.