O’Connor bounces back to lead O’Dowda in heptathlon

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 – 49 points down on O’Connor.

After an evening session which took place as rain hammered Scotstoun Stadium, Australia’s Mia Scerri is a distant third while 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 on the eve of this edition – but is in a strong position heading into the second day of competition.

The withdrawal of the 33-year-old has opened the door for a first new Commonwealth heptathlon champion in eight years, and O’Connor and O’Dowda are the two leading contenders to top the podium.

O’Connor was third in the 100m hurdles behind Canada’s Sienna Macdonald and O’Dowda, but took the overall lead with a 1.82m leap in the high jump ahead of the English athlete.

O’Dowda took the lead off O’Connor after the shot put as the Northern Ireland athlete could only land the fifth-best effort in torrential conditions.

But the 25-year-old rallied to dominate her 200m heat with a time of 24.14 seconds – while O’Dowda ran the second-slowest time – to hold a 49-point margin heading into the final three events.

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Jade O’Dowda (left) is second behind O’Connor while Anna McCauley (right) has an outside shot at the podium after winning her 200m heat [Getty Images]

O’Connor said she had never competed in rain as heavy as the downpour that hit Glasgow on Tuesday evening, and admitted she struggled with the elements in the shot put.

“It just kept slipping out of my hands and when your chalk gets wet, you might as well have dish soap on your hands,” world silver medallist O’Connor told BBC Sport.

“I’m gutted with it to be honest and when I talk about it, I feel a bit emotional because I’ve made it a lot easier for the rest of them to beat me, so I’ve got to work really hard now.”

But O’Connor’s performance in the 200m was scintillating, and she mastered the conditions on track to take an overnight lead.

“I went out and I ran really quick in that, I threw the gauntlet down and ran as fast as I could to make it difficult for the rest of the girls,” she added.

“If the sun was shining and it was a nice warm day, I would have been gutted with that time because I’ve been running quick in training.

“But considering it’s lashing rain and freezing cold out there and I had 10 minutes to warm up, I am delighted with that performance.”

Northern Ireland’s Anna McCauley holds sixth place after she won the second heat of the 200m, and is within 39 points of a bronze medal.

Prior to that, McCauley had finished sixth in the hurdles and high jump, and posted the seventh-best distance in the shot put with 12.13m.