LAST UPDATE | 5 Mar 2023
DARRAGH MCELHINNEY ran a fine race in the final of the 3,000m at the European Athletics Indoor Championship to finish fourth.
The West Cork native put in a strong showing and narrowly missed out on the medals behind Serbia’s Elzan Bibic who came third. The race was won by Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Darragh McElhinney comes agonisingly close to a medal in the 3000m final at the European Indoors Athletics Championships pic.twitter.com/b9mMuyEeKC
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 5, 2023
While he was immediately praised for exceeding expectations, McElhinney rued a missed opportunity.
“I just can’t believe it to be honest,” he said to RTÉ after the race. “I can’t believe I came so close.
“I knew anybody who went with Jakob was going to die to a certain degree. That is what happened, so I timed it perfectly really. Well nearly perfectly.
“If I had gone a tiny bit earlier…But then I wouldn’t have been as fresh as I was in the last lap. When I moved into fourth down the back straight, I thought I was there. It’s just a bit gutting.”
Later on Sunday, Sarah Lavin finished sixth in the 60m hurdles final.
The Limerick woman had qualified after clinching third place in her semi-final with a time of 7.99 seconds.
However, a slow start in the final led the Limerick woman clocking a time of 8.03.
The race was won by Reetta Hurske of Finland.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s 4x400m relay team of Sophie Becker, Sharlene Mawdsley, Cliodhna Manning and Phil Healy finished fifth in their final, with the Netherlands sealing the gold medal.
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