By Cathal Dennehy

Copyright independent

Two athletes, with two laps each to run, and two glorious opportunities to etch their names among the immortals. Just five Irish athletes have ever won a medal at these championships – Eamonn Coghlan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Gillian O’Sullivan, Olive Loughnane and Rob Heffernan – but Kate O’Connor and Cian McPhillips could join that list on Saturday.

O’Connor will toe the line for the last event of the heptathlon, the 800m, at 1.11pm Irish time, but she will have two other events to contend with before that: the long jump and javelin. She was second in the overnight standings in the heptathlon on 3906 points, having set lifetime bests in three of the four events on Friday.

Barring disaster, USA’s Anna Hall looks to have a lock on gold, but silver and bronze should be contested between O’Connor, Sofie Dokter, Nafi Thiam and Katarina Johnson-Thompson. That medal decider will unfold in the 800m at 1.11pm Irish time – not one to be missed.

McPhillips, meanwhile, will be on track for the men’s 800m final at 2.22pm, the Longford athlete upsetting the odds twice here in Tokyo to win his heat and semi-final. Could he possibly repeat the trick a third time? In a wide-open race, nothing looks off the table – from first to eighth.

Much of it will come down to tactics and a strong early pace – below 52 seconds at 400m – would likely suit McPhillips. If he’s in the right position with 200m to run then look out because he’s been closing as well as any man in the field. The favourite is Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who is the Olympic champion but who hasn’t looked imperious this week.

Just after midday, the Irish women’s 4x400m team will line up for the heats, needing a top-three finish to qualify automatically. That will be tricky as they’re drawn alongside the US and the Netherlands – two superpowers of the event – and they would likely need another huge anchor leg from Sharlene Mawdsley to help them into the final, perhaps as one of two time qualifiers.

Elsewhere, the women’s 5000m final will pit 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon against her Kenyan teammate and 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet in what looks a superb clash, while in the field events, the women’s javelin and shot put will be decided.

World Athletics Championships, Tokyo – Live, RTÉ Two, 11am; BBC Two, 10.30am

Irish in action, Saturday (all times Irish)

3.35am: Kate O’Connor, heptathlon long jump

11am: Kate O’Connor, heptathlon javelin

12.11pm: Women’s 4x400m relay heats

1.11pm: Kate O’Connor, heptathlon 800m

2.22pm: Cian McPhillips, men’s 800m final