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A European bronze and now a world silver medal, certainly a lot to take in for a joyous Kate O'Connor, as she made it on the podium in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

Twelve days after taking third spot in the Europeans, the 24-year-old posted three personal bests across the five events to claim Ireland's first indoor medal since Derval O'Rourke's gold in Moscow back in 2006.

O'Connor came into the final event, the 800m, just three points behind the USA's Taliyah Brooks and overhauled her by finishing third in the race.

Finland's Saga Vanninen made it a European and World gold double as she took first with 4,821 points, 79 points clear of O'Connor, who in turn had 73 in the end to spare over Brooks.

For O'Connor it was a case of being focussed on the task at hand ahead of that 800m, as she explained to RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen.

"There was a lot of pressure going into that 800m, I had a job to do," she said.

"I wanted to go out and do something I was proud of but this time it was a little bit different; I knew I had to beat the American girl to get the silver, so I went out with a job to do, to do something I'd be proud of no matter what medal I got."

What also drove the Dundalk competitor on was the opportunity to improve on her third place during that concluding event. Her intent was clear.

"I knew I was going to get a medal and it was about what colour it was going to be, so it was nice to have something to fight for," she added.

"The plan was to track the American girl and then go out and beat her. I was half watching the board to see where she was; she dropped back a little bit and so I had to dig in. I was running that last lap and was asking myself: how much do you want this medal? I wanted