Irish World Championship medallist Kate O’Connor has been unveiled as a new ambassador for Allianz Ireland, strengthening the brand’s ongoing commitment to supporting Irish sport and elite performance.

O’Connor, one of Ireland’s most promising track and field athletes, has built a reputation through her performances in the heptathlon, combining strength, speed, and endurance across seven disciplines. Her progression on the international stage has marked her out as a leading figure in the next generation of Irish athletics.

Her mindset, though, is what truly sets her apart.

“If you don’t medal, it feels like a bad day,” said O’Connor, reflecting on her recent bronze medal and national record performance at the World Indoor Championships.

That mentality has underpinned a rise that has seen the Newry athlete medal in her last five international events across pentathlon and heptathlon, and embrace the pressure that comes with competing at the highest level.

“I thrive under stress,” she said speaking to irish media yesterday. “I love that feeling of when people want me – or don’t want me – to do something, and I do it anyway.”

The partnership with Allianz Ireland aligns with the company’s wider investment in sport, where it has played a prominent role across multiple disciplines, including Gaelic Games through its long-standing relationship with the GAA.

O’Connor’s journey to this point has not been without pivotal decisions. As a teenager, she turned down a scholarship to the University of Texas, opting instead to remain closer to home and later train within a high-performance environment in Sheffield before returning to a set-up led by her father.
“There were definitely points where I wondered, ‘Should I have gone to America?’,” said O’Connor. “But I’m happy with what I did.”

That decision, and a later commitment to fully dedicate herself to elite sport following her Olympic debut, have helped unlock a new level of performance.

“I made the decision that I was going to 100 per cent commit myself to sport and do everything right,” said O’Connor. “I got myself into better shape. I recovered better. I was training better because I was doing all those things better.”

Alongside her athletics career, O’Connor has also maintained a strong connection with Ulster University, balancing her sporting ambitions with academic development and benefiting from the support structures available within the university’s high-performance environment.

O’Connor joins a high-profile group of Allianz ambassadors that includes Rhasidat Adeleke, Leona Maguire and Rachael Blackmore, reflecting the brand’s broad support across athletics, golf and racing as well as its long-standing ties to Gaelic Games.

For Allianz, the appointment reflects a strategy of aligning with athletes who embody resilience, ambition, and high performance—qualities that mirror the brand’s positioning within Irish sport.

With a Commonwealth Games and European Championships double in her sights this summer, and the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 now firmly on the horizon, O’Connor’s trajectory suggests her best may still be to come.

“I want to continue pushing on and keep winning medals,” she said.

O’Connor now joins a growing group of Allianz ambassadors, reinforcing the company’s presence at both grassroots and elite levels of Irish sporting life.

 

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Image Credit: Allianz and Sportsfile.com

 

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