Sułek-Schubert finishes seventh in heptathlon at European Championships as Ireland's O'Connor takes gold

Strong start at Alexander Stadium

Adrianna Sułek-Schubert ended the first day of the heptathlon at the European Championships in Birmingham as the overall leader with 3968 points, having delivered four consistent performances at Alexander Stadium. She ran the 100m hurdles in 13.29 seconds, cleared 1.86m in the high jump (her best height in three and a half years), put the shot 14.65m for a stadium personal best, and clocked 23.84s in the 200m. Her lead stood at 24 points over the Netherlands' Sofie Dokter, 42 over Ireland's Kate O'Connor, 57 over Germany's Sophie Weissenberg, 79 over the Netherlands' Emma Oosterwegel, and 122 over Switzerland's Annik Kälin. While the position was promising, the second day, with the long jump, javelin and 800m remaining, was always likely to test the 27-year-old Pole's weaker events.

Saturday collapse

The long jump exposed the gap that has widened since Sułek-Schubert's return from maternity leave. Before giving birth to her son in 2024, she regularly jumped beyond 6.50m, recording 6.50m, 6.56m and 6.62m in three indoor competitions in 2023. In Birmingham, she fouled her first two attempts, the second by just three centimetres, before registering 6.23m on her third and final try, only the 12th-best mark in the field. Her rivals surged: Kälin soared to 6.81m with a +3.8 m/s tailwind, Weissenberg reached 6.56m, O'Connor 6.55m, and Dokter 6.39m. The javelin proved equally damaging. Sułek-Schubert managed just 36.19m, the second-to-last result among all competitors, a performance compounded by strong wind at Alexander Stadium. After six events, her total stood at 5483 points, dropping her to seventh, 329 points behind leader O'Connor.

Final event and standings

The closing 800m offered no route back to contention. Sułek-Schubert needed to recover 284 points on Dokter for bronze, a gap that would have required a margin of nearly 30 seconds in the race. She ran 2:15.05, finishing eighth in her heat and 11th across both heats. She had been within two points of Hungary's Sarolta Kriszt in the battle for sixth, but could not close the gap. O'Connor, described in one source as a world silver medalist, placed third in the 800m at 2:11.74 to seal the European title with 6751 points, improving the Irish national record. Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands took silver with either 6713 or 6714 points, depending on the source, and her compatriot Dokter, the indoor world champion from Toruń, claimed bronze with 6664. Sułek-Schubert finished seventh with 6375 points.

Career context

Sułek-Schubert's previous achievements include silver medals at the indoor World Championships in Belgrade (2022), the European Championships in Munich (2022), and the indoor European Championships in Istanbul (2023). She holds Polish records in the indoor pentathlon (5014 points) and outdoor heptathlon (6672 points). The 27-year-old from Bydgoszcz gave birth to her son in 2024 and returned to competition after a maternity break. Her post-pregnancy long jump results, with a season best of 6.24m in Bydgoszcz before Birmingham, remain well below her pre-birth marks, and the event has become the area where she loses the most ground relative to the field.