O'Connor targets biggest titles after European gold

Kate O'Connor celebrated winning heptathlon gold for Ireland at the European Championships in Birmingham with a "double burger".That choice seemed fitting: one burger for each major championship she has won in the past three weeks following on from her success for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games."It was beautiful, it was stunning, I ate every single bite of it. And yeah, it was bliss," said O'Connor.Some of those words could have been used to describe the performances this summer which have lifted the 25-year-old to legendary status in Irish athletics. But the Newry-born athlete's thoughts are already turning to the future, including how to better the World Championship silver medal she won behind American Anna Hall into something greater at next year's event in Beijing before the 2028 Olympics."I've got two titles to my name now, and the next goal is to get a world title and then an Olympic title. That is ultimately the aim," she says."When you put in so much work in behind the scenes, why not tell people what you're aiming for and make everybody else excited?"When you know you're capable, I think that there's no harm in saying what you're aiming for."But it's going to take those points here and there and everywhere. Those centimetres across all the events."O'Connor will take a couple of weeks now to "chill" and "not speak about athletics" before reflecting and evaluating the year with dad and coach, Michael, as they plan ahead for what will hopefully be an exciting couple of years.However, in amongst all the excitement of her big wins this summer was the family sadness of the passing of her grandmother, Madeleine, to whom she dedicated the European gold medal."My granny was one of my biggest supporters and, like, every medal that I would win, she was completely over the moon every single time," explained O'Connor."She would always make jokes that she was no longer called Madeleine. She was called Kate O'Connor's granny."She loved to tell literally everybody and anybody that she met. It was really tough after world indoors, whenever she got sick and my dad was split between looking after her and training me."It was just a really tough time for the whole family but my dad has been completely incredible."She was already the proudest person in the world and I think that she was watching over me over those last couple of days. That's why I wanted to dedicate it to her because she's been such a huge part of my life, a huge part of my dad's life and an inspiration to all of my family."