O'Connor secures European Indoor pentathlon bronze

Kate O'Connor produced a sensational concluding 800m to clinch a brilliant bronze in the pentathlon as she was one of Ireland's three medal winners on the last day of the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.

Despite setting personal bests in three of the four earlier events, O'Connor, 24, went into the concluding 800m in fourth place, 34 points behind Great Britain's Jade O'Dowda.

However, Newry-born O'Connor led the 800m from the gun and went on to produce a new personal best of 2:11.42 to win the concluding event as she finished 30 points ahead of O'Dowda, who is the sister of Republic of Ireland footballer Callum O'Dowda.

O'Connor's overall points tally of 4781 bettered her existing Irish record by 98 points as Finland's gold medal favourite Saga Vanninen (4922) clinched gold ahead of Dutch athlete Sofie Doktor (4826).

The Commonwealth Games medallist's performance continued a stunning final session for the Ireland team after Letterkenny athlete Mark English earned men's 800m bronze followed by Dubliner Sarah Healy's women's 3000m gold.

Personal bests in the opening 60m hurdles and the high jump, along with a solid shot put had put O'Connor in the silver medal position.

The Dundalk woman continued her impressive performances by producing another lifetime best in the long jump as she leapt 6.27m - 0.22m further than her previous PB - but that couldn't prevent her from falling to fourth heading into the concluding 800m as Vanninen, Dokter and and O'Dowda all jumped further.

Kate O'Connor started the pentathlon brilliantly by producing a new personal best of 8.31 seconds in the 60m hurdles before leaping to 1.84m in the high jump

O'Connor starts with two PBs

The Newry-born Commonwealth Games silver medallist clocked 8.31 seconds in the opening 60m hurdles - 0.06 seconds inside her previous personal best - which left her eighth overall before producing a 1.84m high jump.

O'Connor, who went into the high jump with a personal best of 1.82m, was in danger of losing ground after failing on her opening two attempts at 1.75m but produced a third-time clearance.

After managing 1.78m first time, she cleared 1.81m at the third attempt before screaming in joy after succeeding in her second effort at 1.84m as she managed another personal best to leave her third overall at that stage.

The Irishwoman then produced a solid 14:32m shot put - 0.22m below her personal best - but that was enough to move her up to second spot after she dropped to fourth despite her latest personal best in the long jump.

In a tactical women's 3000m, Healy, 24, produced a perfectly-timed late run to edge out Great Britain's Melissa Courtney-Bryant.

Home athlete Maureen Koster had to be taken to hospital after falling early in the race but despite the shock in the stadium, Healy kept her composure to stay in touch with the leaders before launching her late charge to victory.

The Irishwoman clocked 8:52.86 crossed the line 0.06 seconds ahead of Courtney-Bryant with Portugal's Salome Afonso securing the bronze.

Letterkenny athlete English clinched the fifth European Championships medal of his career as he earned bronze in the 800m final.

English, 32, ran a typically canny race before his strong closing 100m enabled him to move from fifth to third as he clocked 1:45.46 which left him behind Dutch winner Sam Chapple (1:44.88) and Belgium's Elliott Crestan (1:44.92) with the Irishman passing Romania's Catalin Tecuceanu (1:45.57) and Spain's Elvin Canales (1:45.88).

The Donegal man's previous European medals were outdoor bronze in 2014 and 2022 in addition to indoor silver and bronze in 2015 and 2019.

Earlier in the closing session of the championships, Balbriggan man Andrew Coscoran's hopes of a first major medal were dashed as he finished sixth in 7:51.46 in the 3000m final as Jakob Ingebrigtsen (7:48.37) completed another double at the championships.

The Olympic 5000m gold medallist finished ahead of Great Britain's George Mills (7:49.41) and France's Azeddine Habza (7:50.48) with Sweden's Andreas Almgren and Britain's James West in fourth and fifth spots.

Ireland were also in action in the concluding women's 4x400m medal but their medal chances always looked remote after Sharlene Mawdsley's withdrawal from the championships because of injury and they finished a distant sixth and last as the hosts took victory ahead of Great Britain.