Rachael Darragh
Badminton
BIOGRAPHY
A niece of three-time Olympian Chloe Magee, Rachael moved to Badminton Ireland’s High Performance centre at 17 and actually flew to her first European Games in Baku in 2015 the day after completing her Leaving Cert.
During the previous Olympic cycle Rachael was juggling doubles & singles but since concentrating on the latter since 2023 she has jumped almost 100 places in the world rankings and broke into top 60 last Winter.
In 2022 she made the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games and the last 16 of the European Championships. In 2023 she moved up a level from the international challenge series to compete at World Tour Super 100/300 level. She made the last 32 of the 2023 World Championships and her career highlight so far was making the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Masters last October which helped her clinch the 38th Olympic
BADMINTON NEWS
Team Ireland Weekend Highlights, April 12–13, 2025
From Augusta to Dublin, Belgium to the Basque Country, Irish athletes produced standout performances across a range of Olympic sports this weekend. Rory McIlroy Completes Career Grand Slam Rory McIlroy delivered a defining moment for Irish sport this weekend, winning the 2025 Masters Tournament and becoming just the sixth golfer in history — and [...]
Top Results from the Weekend
9 March 2025; Sarah Healy of Ireland celebrates winning gold in the women's 3000m final on day four of the European Athletics Indoor Championships 2025 at the Omnisport Apeldoorn in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile A Golden Weekend for Team Ireland! A massive congratulations to our athletes on their incredible performances over the weekend! [...]
DAY 4 | AFTERNOON REPORT PARIS 2024
At the canoe slalom Michaela Corcoran in the women’s C1 placed 21st overall and did not advance to the semi-finals, while Kildare paddler Noel Hendrick did enough over the course of his two runs in the K1 to advance to Thursday’s semi-final, ranked 19th. The Irish women’s rugby sevens team concluded their first ever Olympic Games with an eighth place finish [...]
TEAM IRELAND TO FEATURE IN TEN SPORTS ON OPENING DAY OF PARIS 2024
Day one of Paris 2024 is set to be a bumper one for Team Ireland as athletes from no less than ten sports will get their Olympic campaigns underway; Eventing (Dressage), Hockey, Swimming, Rowing, Canoe Slalom, Road Cycling, Boxing, Badminton, Gymnastics, and the Men’s Rugby Sevens team return to the pitch. Equestrian The Irish [...]
Nhat Nguyen and Rachael Darragh Officially Selected to Compete in Badminton in Paris 2024
Nhat Nguyen and Rachael Darragh have been officially selected to represent Team Ireland in badminton at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Dubliner, Nguyen, will be competing in his second Games, having made his debut at the Tokyo Olympics. From Raphoe, Co. Donegal, Darragh will be making her first Olympic appearance. The Badminton events [...]
A RALLYING FORCE IN RACQUET SPORTS | Chloe Magee
Irish badminton has a relatively short but rich Olympic history and women have played a really seminal role in it. Sonia McGinn, a 26-year-old from Howth, was the first player to ever qualify when she competed in Sydney 2000 and she also had a female coach (Mary Dinan). Then came Chloe Magee who was only [...]