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10
Mar
George Mills wins silver at European Indoor Championships
Harrogate athlete George Mills won a silver medal in the 3000m final at the European Indoor Championships in the Netherlands yesterday (March 9).
Mills came second with a time of 7:49.41, just losing out to world record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The Brit was ahead for large parts of the race, but the Norwegian world number one broke away with two laps to go, running a time of 7:48.37 to take gold.
Mills finished a second ahead of third-placed Frenchman Azeddine Habz. Fellow Brit James West also competed and finished in fifth place out of the twelve competitors.
The Stray Ferret previously reported that Mills had smashed the 3000m British record at an indoor event in France last month. The former St Aidan's Church of England High School pupil ran a time of 7:27.92, beating Josh Kerr’s previous record by about three seconds.
In an interview with BBC Sport, George’s father, former Leeds United footballer Danny Mills, spoke about how well George had done against “one of the best of all time” in Ingebrigtsen.
He said:
It’s horrible, it really is. It’s like watching a penalty shootout time and time again. The lead up – the hour or so beforehand – is absolutely terrible. I’ve got sore hands again from banging the boards.
But George gave it absolutely everything. He ran a 2:20 last kilometre, which is ridiculous.
You’ve got to give a lot of respect to Jakob. He’s got to be one of the best of all time. He’s got to be in that conversation with Michael Phelps, Michael Johnson and Usain Bolt in his event. He is beatable, we’ve seen it before, but more often than not he’s the one to beat and that makes him supreme.
George has pushed him closer this time. He got a silver last time in Rome and a silver today, but George is building all the time, getting more confident, and sooner rather than later he’ll have his time.
George Mills talks to his dad, Danny. Photo: George Mills Instagram
George also spoke about what the medal meant to him. He added:
I think anything less and I would have been really disappointed to be honest. Coming into it you know Jakob’s the favourite and he’s incredibly hard to beat. But if you look at the rest of the table, on paper I should be coming second.
I did the minimum of what I could. Obviously, I’m happy to come away with a silver but I need to work more for summer.
Mills will now have all of his attention on the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo later this year.
With the likes of Ingebrigtsen and American runners Grant Fisher and Cole Hocker to compete against, Mills will no doubt want to test his abilities further against the world’s best.
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