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 Glengarriff 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 won his first senior national title in 2020 in the 5000m. On July 28th, 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]
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]
