'I'm getting PBs left, right and centre' - O'Connor

Ireland's Kate O'Connor recorded three personal bests to put herself firmly in medal contention after day one of the women's heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The 24-year-old built up 3,906 points to sit second on the leaderboard behind American Anna Hall (4,154) after registering PBs in the 100m hurdles, the high jump and 200m.

Great Britain's reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson (3,893) occupies third in the standings, with Olympic champion - Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium - back in sixth on 3,818 points.

O'Connor will compete again on Saturday in the second day of heptathlon action in the long jump (03:35 BST), the javelin (11:00) and the 800m (13:11).

She was understandably thrilled with her performance after the first day of action.

"I came here and I just wanted to enjoy every event. I've had the year of dreams so far with the two medals I won indoors, and I wanted to show I could transfer it to outdoors so I'm enjoying every second out there," Newry-born O'Connor told BBC Sport's Sarah Mulkerrins.

"I'm getting PBs left right and centre which is also amazing. We have been putting in so much hard work over the last couple of years and I'm so happy it is coming out now."

O'Connor started her evening in Japan by finishing third in heat one of the 100m hurdles in a new best time of 13.44 seconds.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist then cleared 1.86 metres in the high jump on her third attempt to finish tied fourth, level with Johnson-Thompson.

That beat her previous best of 1.84m set in March this year.

She threw 14.37m in the shot put and then ran the 200m in 24.07 seconds as she finished second in her heat to edge into second in the overall standings ahead of Johnson-Thompson in third.

'Mindset change' key - O'Connor

O'Connor says she has been demanding more from herself

O'Connor has already enjoyed a superb 2025 as she claimed bronze in the pentathlon at the European Championships and silver at the World Indoors before setting a new national record at the World University Games to claim gold outdoors.

She credits a shift in mentality for her strong displays this year and hopes to enjoy another successful day with Saturday's concluding three events.

"I think it was a mindset change, not just for me but the team around me too, they expect more from me and I expect more from myself," she said.

"Obviously, there is hard work that goes into it, too, but I'd say ultimately it was a mindset change.

"I'm going to go back now, chill out and relax. I'll enjoy those PBs, then park them and go out to get every point I can tomorrow."

There was disappointment for Ireland on the track as Darragh McElhinney, Andrew Coscoran and Brian Fay failed to reach the men's 5,000m final.

McElhinney narrowly missed out after clocking 13:42.56 to finish 10th in his heat, with Coscoran 19th in 13:56.95. Fay finished 17th in heat one in 13:31.12.

In addition to O'Connor's heptathlon bid on Saturday, Cian McPhillips will chase a medal in the men's 800m final (14:22 BST).

The 23-year-old Longford man won his semi-final on Thursday in a new Irish record time of 1:43.18.