Darragh McElhinney

Darragh McElhinney

Personal information
Nationality	Irish
Born	(2000-11-09) 9 November 2000 (age 24)
Education	University College Dublin
Sport
Country	Ireland
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Middle-, long-distance running
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	1500m: 3:37.72 (Copenhagen, 2022) Mile: 3:58.15 (Dublin, 2022) 3000m: 7:39.92 (Metz, 2024) 5000m: 13:17.17 (Oordegem, 2022)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Ireland European Cross Country Championships 2021 Dublin U23 team 2021 Dublin U23 race 2022 Turin U23 Team European U20 Championships 2019 Borås 5000 m

Darragh McElhinney (born 9 November 2000) is an Irish middle and long distance runner. He is a multiple-time national champion.^[1]

Early life

From County Cork, he attended Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí. He runs for Bantry Athletics Club. His father Tony is involved with Glengarriff GAA, and Darragh played as a youngster helping Beara win the U16 county Premier 1 football championship final, but stopped in 2016 to concentrate on athletics. He won junior Irish 1500m, U16 mile, and intermediate 1500m titles. He was the first Irish teenager to ever run under 14 minutes for the 5000m.^[2]

Career

In 2017, aged 16 years-old he broke John Treacy's outdoor youth 3000 metres record that had stood since 1974, running 8:18.18.^[3]

He set a new personal best time of 14:06.05 to win bronze in the 5000 metres at the 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships in Borås, Sweden.^[4]

He won his first senior national title in 2020 in the 5000m. On July 28, 2021, he ran 3:58.20 at a one-mile race in London, to break the four-minute barrier for the first time. It was also an Irish U23 record.^[2] In 2021, McElhinney, was second in the 2021 European Cross Country Championships under-23 race staged at Abbotstown, also winning the U23 team gold with Ireland.^[5]

In March 2022, he made his senior international debut at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade.^[6] That month he won the national indoor 3000m title, and set a new national U23 1500m indoor record time of 3:39.63. In May 2022, he set a personal best and new national U23 record in the 5000m, when he ran 3:17.17 in Belgium. That year, he also won the national title in the 5000m outdoors. He broke the national U23 3000m record twice, when he ran 7:44.01 in Cork in July and 7:42.86 in Italy in August.^[7] That month he competed at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in the 5000 metres in Munich, and finished 16th in the final.^[8] He won the Irish National Cross Country Championships in Donegal in November 2022.^[9]

In March 2023, he finished fourth at the 3000 metres at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.^[10]

He set a personal best time of 7:39.92 over 3000 metres in Metz, France in February 2024. A few days later, he finished third in the 3000 metres at the 2024 Copernicus Cup in Poland.^[11]

In June 2024, he finished third in the 1500 metres race at the Irish Championshios in Dublin.^[12]

Personal life

He studied for a history and politics degree at University College Dublin.^[6] He was one of the students who feature in the RTÉ One documentary television series My Uni Life, which charts a year in the life of Ireland's universities.^[13]

References

1. "Darragh McElhinney". World Athletics. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
2. McCarthy, Kieran (3 January 2023). "10 reasons why Darragh McElhinney is the real deal". Southern Star. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
3. McCarthy, Kieron (7 June 2022). "Darragh smashes 44-year-old Irish athletics record". Southern Star. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
4. "West Cork dynamo Darragh McElhinney is set to become an athletics sensation". Echolive.ie. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
5. O'Riordan, Ian (20 November 2022). "From Glengarriff to Rosapenna, Darragh McElhinney comes of age with first senior cross-country title". Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
6. Dennehy, Cathal (1 March 2023). "McElhinney looking to pick his battles in Istanbul". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
7. McCarthy, Kieran (15 August 2022). "Kieran McCarthy: Rising star Darragh McElhinney is the record breaker". southernstar.ie. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
8. "McElhinney can build on European 5000m final performance". Southern Star. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
9. Dennehy, Cathal (20 November 2022). "Sarah Healy and Darragh McElhinney come of age in Donegal". Independent.ie.
10. Murphy, Eamonn (5 March 2023). "Brilliant effort from Cork runner Darragh McElhinney sees him come agonisingly close to European medal". echolive.ie. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
11. "Sarah Lavin and Darragh McElhinney on the podium in Poland". RTE. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
12. Dennehy, Cathal (30 June 2024). "Rhasidat Adeleke smashes Irish 100m record while taking National Championships title". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
13. Ryan, Charlotte (16 February 2024). "My Uni Life: Athlete Darrragh McElhenny on chasing the Olympics". RTE. Retrieved 19 February 2024.