Nevertheless, the Dundalk lady instantly confirmed she remained within the type of her life by setting a brand new 60m hurdles private better of 8.30 seconds.
A excessive soar of 1.81m – solely three centimetres down on one of the best she set within the Netherlands – was adopted by one other lifetime greatest shot put of 14.64m, which added 10 centimetres to her earlier greatest mark.
That left O’Connor, who received Commonwealth Video games heptathlon silver for Northern Eire behind Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 2022, in second place after three occasions.
Whereas she slipped to 3rd – simply three factors behind US athlete Taliyah Brooks – regardless of one other lengthy soar private better of 6.32m, the Northern Eire athlete completed effectively forward of the American within the concluding 800m to safe the silver.
“I knew that to get the silver, I needed to beat the American woman, in order that was simply the plan. I simply needed to exit and run laborious and simply struggle till the very finish,” she added.
“I wasn’t positive the place she was in any respect however for the final 50m I used to be simply pondering ‘how a lot would you like the silver?’ I am upgrading from [bronze at the] Europeans so I am actually blissful.”
O’Connor additionally instructed Athletics Eire she hopes her medals over the past fortnight will “actually push multi-events ahead within the nation and let youthful athletes see what different choices can be found to them in athletics”.
She turns into solely the seventh Irish athlete to assert a person medal at a World Indoor Championship, following within the footsteps of Marcus O’Sullivan, Paul Donovan, Frank O’Mara, Sonia O’Sullivan, Paul McKee and O’Rourke.
