Rachel McCann (born 26 September 2001) is an Irish sprinter, specialising in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

Early life

From Bangor, she competed in hockey and practised ballet when she was younger before focusing on athletics. She attended

Sullivan Upper School Sullivan Upper School is a mixed non- denominational voluntary grammar school in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and has approximately 1,100 enrolled pupils. The school motto is ', Irish for "with the gentle hand foremost". History Sullivan Lo ...

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) ...

and studied pharmaceutical science at

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

Career

She joined North Down Athletics Club in 2013. She anchored the Irish women's 4x400m team to fifth place at the

2019 European Athletics U20 Championships The 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships were the 25th edition of the biennial European U20 athletics championships. They were held in Borås, Sweden from 18 July to 21 July. Beginning with this edition the long-distance races for men were 30 ...

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

. In August 2020, she finished third in the 400 metres at the senior Irish Athletics Championships. In February 2022, she was part of the Irish mixed 4x400 metres relay team that set an indoors Irish national record in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. She travelled as a non-travelling reserve for the

2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 18th World Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 18 to 20 March 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. Ethiopia headed the medal table, with 4 gold medals. United States won the most medals, with 19, as well as getting the second highest number o ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. She was part of the Irish relay pool at the

2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships The 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships was the 19th edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the World Athletics. The event was held between 1–3 March at the Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velod ...

in Glasgow, and the 2024 World Athletics Relays in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

. In June 2024, she placed second behind

Sophie Becker Sophie Becker (born 16 May 1997) is an Irish Sprint (running), sprinter specialising in the 400 m. She represented Ireland at the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay, Olympic Games and 2023 World Athletics Cham ...

in the 400 metres at the Irish Athletics Championships. In July 2024, she was officially selected for the relay pool at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. She finished third at the Irish Indoor Athletics Championship at

Abbotstown Abbotstown () is a townland in the civil parish of Castleknock in Fingal, Ireland. It is also the name of an historical demesne and country estate that is close to Blanchardstown. Historically the estate belonged to a number of aristocratic famil ...

on 23 February 2025 in the 400 metres. She was named in the Irish team for the

2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held from 6 to 9 March 2025 at the Omnisport Apeldoorn arena in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The four-day competition features thirteen men's, thirteen women's and one mixed athletics events over t ...

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

, where she ran an indoor personal best of 53.16 seconds. In the women's 4x400m relay she ran with the Irish team placing sixth overall. She was selected for the Irish relay pool for the

2025 World Athletics Relays The 2025 World Athletics Relays was held at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium in Guangzhou, China on 10 and 11 May 2025. It was the 7th edition of the World Athletics Relays and the first time the event was held in China. The 2025 edition was the ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, China in May 2025 where she ran with the women's 4x400m relay team which successfully qualified for the 2025 world championships.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Rachel 2001 births Living people 21st-century Irish sportswomen Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Athletes from County Down Irish female sprinters People educated at Sullivan Upper School Sportspeople from Bangor, County Down