Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Kate O'Connor won her heat in the 200 metres to move into the lead of the heptathlon over Jade O'Dowda
- Published22 minutes ago
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, 55 points down on O'Connor, as rain hammered Scotstoun Stadium for the evening session.
Australia's Mia Scerri is a distant third but 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 of the Commonwealths on the eve of the Games, but is now 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 stand on top of the podium in Glasgow.
O'Connor was third in the 100 metre hurdles behind Canada's Sienna Macdonald and O'Dowda, but took the overall lead with top score of 1.82m on 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, which was held as torrential rain his Scotstoun.
But the 25-year-old rallied to dominate her 200 metre heat with a time of 24.14 seconds, while O'Dowda set the second-slowest time, to hold a 55-point margin heading into the final three events.
O'Connor said she had never competed in rain as heavy as the downpour that his 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 200 metres 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."
