DARRAGH McElhinney is approaching this summer differently.

For the first time as a senior athlete, he is not chasing a qualification standard. Instead, he is preparing for a championship.

The Glengarriff man ran a 5000m personal best of 13:02.06 in Oordegem, Belgium, last summer, comfortably inside the 13:08 qualifying standard for this August’s European Athletics Championships.

While his place on the Athletics Ireland team is not yet officially confirmed, McElhinney is in a strong position. It has allowed him to build his season towards the Europeans rather than spend the summer chasing times.

‘It completely changes the season,’ the Bantry AC star explains.

‘It makes racing a lot more enjoyable because you're not carrying the same stress about whether a race is going to be fast enough.

‘For example, I'm racing a 5000m in The Netherlands on Sunday and it's a gold-level meet. People were saying it could be quite hot because it's on early in the evening. Last year, that might have made me reconsider, because there was no point doing a race unless it was likely to be fast and give me ranking points. This year, if it's hot, that's just part of the challenge.

‘I raced a 5000m in Finland earlier this month and ended up dropping out after 4k because the pace was faster than I wanted. But I went into it thinking, “If I blow up, I blow up. It's not the end of the world. I need to see where I'm at.”

‘When you're chasing qualifying standards, every race feels like the be-all and end-all. The weather has to be perfect, the pacing has to be right, everything has to line up. Now I can go to races, roll with the punches and focus on learning and improving.’

Right now, McElhinney is ‘reasonably confident’ he has done enough to secure his spot on the Irish team. The qualifying window closes at the end of July, so there is still a wait-and-see element. But he is able to map out this summer with the Europeans as his target.

That compares to last summer, when he was chasing qualification for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo – a goal he ultimately achieved.

Darragh McElhinney in action in the men's 5000m heat at the 2025 World Athletics Championships.

‘I raced a lot more than I would have liked before Tokyo, but in some ways it actually helped me. The more you race, the more race-ready you become. Obviously, that only works if you're fit, otherwise you can dig yourself into a hole,’ the 25-year-old explains.

‘Last year I was going into the summer really aerobically fit and I was coming on with every race.

‘Even though I had the standard this year, I didn't want to disappear up the mountains and train until two weeks beforehand. I wanted to be on the circuit, getting race experience and becoming more battle-hardened for when the championships come around.’

There is real value in race experience too. He points to the 5000m heats at the Worlds in Tokyo.

‘They were completely different,’ he says.

‘One was won in around 13:10 or 13:12, while the other was won in about 13:34. One race can go through 3k much slower and turn into a long burn-up, while another can become an 800m sprint finish.

‘You need to be ready for all those different scenarios. A race can go hard from the gun, or it can become tactical. The experience of dealing with all those situations is really important.

‘That's one reason I'm racing more 1500s this year. If the European final ends up being slower, it will usually turn into a hard last mile or 2k. If I've already raced several tough 1500s against top-class athletes, it should make it easier to handle that kind of finish in a 5000m.

‘Ultimately, you're trying to become as complete an athlete as possible so you're ready for whatever the race throws at you.’

McElhinney showed his class with an eye-catching, fast finish down the home straight to win a 1500m race in Bergen last month.

‘It actually surprised me a little because I'd been in a heavy mileage block. The race went out fast and then slowed dramatically on the third lap, which brought the field back together,’ he says.

‘When the pace slowed so much, the race got messy and I found myself boxed in. That's probably why the kick looked so dramatic. I knew I had a lot left, but I couldn't get any space. I was waiting for a gap that never really opened. With about 170 metres to go, I realised I was just going to have to commit. I stepped out into lane two and basically told myself, “Just hit this as hard as you can.”

‘When you start moving past people instead of having them move past you, it's a great feeling. I could sense I was getting close to the win, but I was mainly focused on getting to the line as fast as possible. Luckily, I just managed to pip the leader at the line. It was a really nice way to start the season.’

Off the track, these are good times too. McElhinney was best man for his brother Eoghan, who married Meghan last month. The celebrations in Dunmore House were followed by great days in Glengarriff and Bantry.

This was a different type of pressure, he quips.

‘In fairness, it was a big responsibility. Eoghan is my older brother and he's such an impressive person that I felt I had to do him justice, especially with the speech.’

McElhinney has also signed with HOKA, a sportswear company that designs and markets running shoes, giving him stability off the track to express himself on it.

‘It's essentially financial backing through to the LA Olympics, which is brilliant. It gives me security and a foundation to fully commit to the sport,’ McElhinney explains.

‘I've generally been fortunate to have support throughout my career, but after I lost my contract in 2024 I went into last year unsponsored. I was thinking, “I need to run well and hopefully something comes from it.” That was manageable for a year, but you're always hoping there's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

‘I started talking to HOKA in March and signed a few weeks later. It also gives me more scope for training camps and access to their bases in places like Flagstaff in Arizona and Font-Romeu, where a lot of top athletes train. It's nice to have more opportunities to link in with people in those environments.’

This new sponsorship deal provides some peace of mind. It’s added security, but there’s no comfort zone in top-level athletics.

‘I don't think the chasing will ever completely go away,’ he says.

‘The World Championship standards for 2027 have just come out and they're pretty wild. The automatic standard for the 5,000m is now 12:50, which is 12 seconds faster than before. World Athletics wants only about 35 to 40 percent of the field to qualify automatically, with the rest coming through rankings. So I'm enjoying this summer while I have it because next year I'll probably be back in that world of chasing again.’