Name: Darragh McElhinney
Club: Bantry AC
Event: 5000m
Personal Best: 13:02.06
Tokyo Schedule: Fri 19 Sept 12.05pm. Final Sun 21 Sept 11.50am
The formative years
Darragh McElhinney started his juvenile athletics career with Bantry AC in West Cork. His talent was noticed by Steve Macklin an Athletics Ireland high performance coach, who took over his athletics development. At 15 years old he was picked by Macklin to travel to the 2016 Games in Rio as a training partner for Irish pentathletes, Arthur Lanigan O’Keefe and Natalya Coyle. (Macklin also coached Lanigan O’Keeffe). Those two and a half weeks fuelled the motivation and inspiration required to get to that level himself. Later that same year (he had just turned 16), he competed in the European u20 Cross-country Championships, the first of four u20 European and one world cross competitions he would qualify for. He was still at school when he dipped under 14 minutes for the first time in a 5000m race – an Irish record and the first of his age ever to do so. Not even the great John Treacy had managed that feat. In fact, it was many of John Treacy’s long standing records that Darragh had managed to obliterate in his teenage years. On the track his performances over a range of distances from 1500m to 5000m were steadily improving. He secured a bronze medal in the 2019 European u20 5000m. Then it was off to UCD on a sports scholarship where he was coached by Emmet Dunleavy.
Moving on
In 2021 he thrilled a home audience in Dublin with his u23 European Cross-country silver medal, a late comeback almost taking Charles Hicks (GB) on the line. It’s incredible to think that by the age of 22 Darragh competed in a total of six European and one world cross-country.
2022 was a great year for the young Bantry athlete. A rapid 7.45 for 3000m indoors in Metz qualified him for the World Indoors in Serbia. He had entered the world of senior majors. In May of that same year at the IFAM meet in Belgium, McElhinney shaved nine seconds off the 44-year-old 5000m u23 record. Another of John Treacy’s records to fall to McElhinney. European track and field championship qualification ensued, with the now UCD AC athlete finishing 16th in the 5000m final in Munich. Before 2022 had drawn to an end he had set four national u23 records and won three national senior titles (indoor 3000m, outdoor 5000m and national senior cross-country).
That success rolled into 2023 when he finished an incredible 4th at the European Indoor 3000m in Istanbul. While there were some magic moments in 2023, the remainder of the year and through 2024 were not what McElhinney would have hoped for.
The Road to Tokyo
Things took a turn for the better in 2025 with signs that some health issues that had troubled him were now resolved. Now finished university and back in the blue of Bantry, he dropped personal best after personal best through May and June. He was chasing World Championship qualification. A 13.26.48 5000m in Belgium followed by a 13:16.26 at the Fast5000m in France. He just needed to reach the quota. With just one place off that quota in August he did some final races. On 9 Aug he ran a superb 13:02 marginally adrift of the A standard for the 5000m. Three days later he clocked a 3000m PB of 7:35.16 in Budapest. Thankfully qualification came through. Tokyo will be Darragh McElhinney’s World Championship debut.
International Majors
2016: European u20 Cross-Country Italy 38th
2017: European u20 Cross-Country Slovakia 39th
2017: European u20 Championships Italy 1500m H2 11th
2018: World u20 Championships Finland 5000m 18th Final
2018: European u20 Cross-Country Netherlands 16th
2019: World u20 Cross-Country Denmark 53rd
2019: European Championships u20 Sweden 5000m 3rd Final
2019: European u20 Cross-Country Portugal 12th
2021: European Championships u23 Estonia 5000m 9th Final
2021: European u23 Cross-Country Dublin 2nd
2022: World Indoor Championships Serbia 3000m H3 9th
2022: European Championships Munich 5000m 16th Final
2022: European u23 Cross-Country Italy 26th
2023: European Indoor Championships Istanbul 3000m 4th Final
2025: World Championships 1500m, Tokyo
Personal Bests
5000m: 13:02.16 09/08/2025
1500m: 3:37.38 11/07/2025
mile: 3:51.99 11/07/2025
3000m: 7:35.16 12/08/2025
1500m (i): 3:39.63 07/03/2022
3000m (i): 7:39.92 03/02/2024
5000m (i): 13:35.99 02/12/2023