EOIN O’Callaghan marked his debut on the world stage by improving his overall decathlon personal best at the World Athletics U20 Championships held in Oregon.

The Bandon teenager took his overall points tally to a best-ever 7159 as he finished 19th in the world – a notable achievement for O’Callaghan who will feel the benefit of this experience and exposure against the best in the world.

He also threw a new personal best in the javelin – his ninth event of ten – when he threw 54.96 metres.

Split over two days of action, O’Callaghan was in 22nd place after day one, racking up the points. He ran 11.17 in the 100m (823 points), jumped a season’s best of 6.57m in the long jump (713), threw 14.56m in the shot put (763), then 1.82m in the high jump (644) before finishing the day with a 49.97-second run in the 400m (816).

On day two, the Bandon AC athlete ran 14.48 seconds in the 110m hurdles (913), threw 38.39m in the discus (632), jumped 3.80m in the pole vault (562), recorded a new javelin personal best of 54.96m (662), before finishing with a  4:48.04 run in the 1500m (631).