Darragh McDonald

The amazing career of Darragh McDonald is going from strength to strength and today, (Tuesday), he will arrive back in Gorey with a gold and silver medal to his credit following two outstanding performances in the swimming pool at the IPC World Championships held in Montreal, Canada.

In a week when he received the results of his Leaving Certificate, Darragh was an achiever on the world stage.

Last Monday week, Darragh, a London Paralympic gold medallist, destroyed the opposition in the final of the 400m freestyle S6 final to take gold.

Although he had limited preparation going to Canada as he sat the Leaving Cert in June, Darragh had 20 seconds to spare over the runner-up from Columbia.

Last Sunday evening, Darragh came agonisingly close to his second medal in Canada.

Having won gold on the first day of competition, Darragh was swimming in the 100m Freestyle final.

He touched just .3 of a second behind bronze medallist, Matthew Haanappel, from Australia in 1:11.70 taking almost 2 seconds off his heat time of 1:13.60.

Colombia’s Nelson Crispin, whom Darragh had beaten handsomely on the first day of competition over the longer distance, was crowned world champion in a time of 1:10.01.

Darragh, who swims with the Asgard Swimming Club, Arklow, took up the sport at the age of 11 at Courtown Swimming Club.

He won a silver medal at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008, becoming the youngest Irish swimmer to win a Paralympic medal when he was jiust 14 years old.

His greatest triumph came in the Paralympic Final at London last September when he won gold in the 400m freestyle category.

Many messages of congratulations have been sent to Darragh, who has been busy opening and promoting festivals and events around North Wexford since he has become of one the most successful sportsmen in the country.

Full story in THE GOREY ECHO.