| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Irish |
| Born | 9 November 2000 |
| 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 | |
Darragh McElhinney (born 9 November 2000) is an Irish middle and long distance runner. He is a multiple-time national champion. [1]
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]
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 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]
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]
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]
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately 15⁄16 miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer cousin, the mile race, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile".
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12+1⁄2 laps of a standard track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.
Ciara Mageean is a middle-distance runner from Portaferry in Northern Ireland who specialises in the 1500 metres. She is the 2024 European Athletics Championships gold medalist at the distance, the first individual Irish European champion since Sonia O'Sullivan.
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Israel Olatunde is an Irish professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. He competed at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships, and reached the final of the 100 metres at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, the first Irishman ever to do so, and where he finished sixth in an Irish record time. He later broke the national record in the 60 metres in 2023.
Brian Fay is an Irish long-distance runner. He has been the Irish national champion at 3000m steeplechase, and Irish national record holder over 5000m.
Nick Griggs is an Irish middle and long-distance runner from County Tyrone.
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