Darragh McElhinney

2023 - 3 - 5

Sarah Lavin Sarah Lavin

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Image courtesy of "Irish Examiner"

Agony for McElhinney after near-miss in Istanbul (Irish Examiner)

An emotional Darragh McElhinney was gutted with his fourth place finish in the 3000m final at the European Indoor Championships.

“I made every mistake possible in that semi-final and the media is so quick to criticise you, and I felt the brunt of that,” said Mawdsley. It has been tough but I stuck with it and hopefully come outdoor season things will change.” Ireland were never truly going to be medallists here, barring a dropped baton elsewhere, but there were enough rookie mistakes in their racing that they’ll know they had the ability to be one place higher. “There’s still ongoing tests but hopefully I do come back to my best,” said Healy. For Sarah Lavin, there was a similar sense of what-if after the final of the women’s 60m hurdles. In the months ahead this race will replay in his mind a thousand times, the question being whether he could have emptied the tank a little sooner, been a little closer, when the wheels started turning, when Jakob Ingebrigtsen began his slow suffocation of his rivals with a vicious, 3:40 last 1500m, bringing the Norwegian home to his second gold of the weekend in 7:40.32. After McElhinney made his way to the bowels of the Atakoy Arena in Istanbul on Sunday evening, having finished just outside the medals in the European indoor men’s 3000m final, he held his face in his hands, his eyes a red, watery reservoir of hurt. “I just can’t believe it, I’m so speechless for the first time in my life,” he said. Tiny margins, of course, but at this level that separates the have-medals from the have-nots. I’m getting better all the time.” The specific work-on is clear, and Lavin’s coach Noelle Morrissey had a barrage of texts during the championships from those pointing out the obvious about her lacklustre start. “I can’t believe I came so close. But try telling any athlete to smile about coming up one, single poxy place shy of their first senior international medal and you’ll be met, correctly, with a vacant, dead-eyed stare.

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Image courtesy of "Echo Live"

Brilliant effort from Cork runner Darragh McElhinney sees him come ... (Echo Live)

West Cork athlete ran a personal best at the European Indoor Athletics Championships.

On the soccer front, his exploits with Bantry Bay Rovers earned him a place in the West Cork Kennedy Cup squad. The Beara man also picked up a European junior bronze medal over 5,000m. Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the gold and along with Spain's Adel Mechaal and Serbia's Elzan Bibic were dominating heading into the final lap.

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Image courtesy of "The Irish Times"

Faraway, so close, Darragh McElhinney finishes just outside the ... (The Irish Times)

The 22-year-old left his effort a little too late, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen collecting European title number 11.

It wasn’t to be for the 20-year-old UCD student, seventh in his semi-final in 6.69. She ended up sixth, not helped by a shaky start, still mixing it with the best in the sprint hurling business. Still, his 7:44.72 improved his best by a second, the Glengarriff runner ranked only ninth of the 15 starters. When I moved into fourth down the back straight, I thought I would get there. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, at 22 years old, the same age as McElhinney, won from the front, improving his best by eight seconds to win in 7:40.32 – with that completing another 1,500m-3,000m double and winning European senior title number 11. Hands on his head, shaking it in disbelief, understandably wondering what might have happened had he made that move earlier.

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Image courtesy of "Balls.ie"

Darragh McElhinney Gives Heartbreaking Interview After Narrowly ... (Balls.ie)

Darragh McElhinney missed out on a European indoor medal by the slimmest of margins in the 3000m final in Istanbul this afternoon.

I'm sorry, I know this is going to be the worst interview ever. I timed it perfectly really, well nearly perfectly. I just don't know what to say. However, he would just run out of track as he was chasing down Serbia's Elzan Bibic for third. A dejected Darragh McElhinney is lost for words in disappointment after coming to close to a medal in the 3000m final at the European indoors. Darragh McElhinney came agonisingly close to securing a medal at the European indoors this afternoon, falling just short as he came in fourth place in the 3000m final.

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Image courtesy of "SportsJOE.ie"

'Gutted' Darragh McElhinney runs a blinder but narrowly misses out ... (SportsJOE.ie)

The Cork man was gutted after his 3000m race - it was hardly any surprise that he broke down in his post-race interview with David Gillick - because, as ...

He's up there with the best athletes in the world. That hurts, but you use that hurt, and I'm sure he'll learn from that." "Fourth hurts. After all, this was something of a breakthrough race for the youngster. It's just a bit gutting," he added. "Isn't it brilliant to see him up on the business end, and closing in on the medals.

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Image courtesy of "RTE.ie"

McElhinney finishes fourth in 3000m final in Turkey (RTE.ie)

Ireland's Darragh McElhinney outran expectations to finish a fabulous fourth in the final of the 3000m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships as ...

[pic.twitter.com/1VgKyb3Vmp] [March 5, 2023] [pic.twitter.com/rut2C7g8HD] [March 5, 2023] It's just a bit gutting." [pic.twitter.com/FvuIeblOGs] [March 5, 2023] "I knew anyone who went with Jakob was going to die to a certain degree and that is what happened. [pic.twitter.com/b9mMuyEeKC] [March 5, 2023]

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Image courtesy of "Irish Mirror"

Darragh McElhinney runs personal best but just misses out on ... (Irish Mirror)

The UCD AC runner finished in fourth place in a field left in the wake of Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

It's just a bit gutting." "I knew anyone who went with Jakob was going to die to a certain degree and that is what happened. "If I'd gone a tiny bit earlier... I timed it perfectly, well, nearly perfectly McElhinney raced in the midfield of the 15 runners in the final as Ingebrigtsen began to set his own blistering fractions. Ireland's Darragh McElhinney ran a personal best to just miss out on a medal in the 3,000m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

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Image courtesy of "The Irish News"

Darragh McElhinney narrowly misses out on medal in 3000m final at ... (The Irish News)

THE late withdrawals and sub-par performances of the first three days were all forgotten as Irish athletes finally found their form in the final session of ...

Olatunde was well off his recent Irish record of 6.57 with Ceccarelli going on to take gold in the final in 6.48 from compatriot and Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs. Hannah Gilliland of Queen's took the individual bronze medal while Enniskillen woman Edel Monaghan representing Trinity was fifth. Phil Healy (53.37) pulled out all the stops on the anchor leg to snatch fifth on the line, relegating the British quartet to last. Lavin's 8.03 timing was slightly slower than her 7.99 recorded earlier in her semi-final. Ireland's combined time was 3:32.61, over a second outside the national record and well behind the winners from the Netherlands who set a championship record of 3:25.66. Sharlene Mawdsley (51.15) moved up one place to fourth before Cliodhna Manning (54.39) slipped back to sixth.

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