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20
Jul
How Harrogate runner George Mills is hitting his stride ahead of the Olympics
Given that the Olympic Games open this Friday (July 26), you might think that any athletes going for gold in Paris over the next few weeks would be saving themselves by now for the main event, avoiding competition and the risk of fatigue or injury.
But they’re not. Many of the world’s finest have gathered at the London Stadium and will be in action today at the last event of the Wanda Diamond League series before the Games begin.
One of them is Harrogate’s own George Mills, who will be lining up at 3.19pm to run the Emsley Carr Mile, an annual invitational race held in the UK that has been won by 11 Olympic champions in its 70-year history.
George may well fancy his chances – in September he ran the mile in 3 minutes 47.65 seconds at the Diamond League meet in Oregon. It was the third-fastest mile ever by a UK athlete, and has only ever been bettered by British track giants Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe, back in the 1980s.
It all bodes well for the Harrogate-born runner, who will be representing Team GB in the 1500m and 5000m at the Olympic Games.
The Stray Ferret caught up with George ahead of today’s race during a lunch break at his summer base in St Moritz in Switzerland. He told us:
I’m very clinical in my thinking about these things. At the end of the day, it’s my job. I’m at a stage in my career where I need to be making the finals in these big competitions.
I don’t want to go and make up the numbers – I want to be mixing it with the best in the world.
Preparation
Since Oregon, he’s been training hard and hasn’t had a day off this year. He said:
I’ve just had a really good block of training, and this event will be a ‘final tune-up' before the Olympics.
I’ve not really thought too far ahead to Paris. I’m just in the rhythm of my training – I prepare for every race the same. It doesn’t feel like there’s something crazy coming up.
Whatever happens in London, George will be heading across the Channel to "something crazy" on Thursday (July 13), but his first race isn’t scheduled until the following week (August 2), so he’ll still have some time to prepare.
Preparation is George's thing. He trains a minimum of twice a day, and when training hits its peak, he runs up to 215km a week. That’s more than 18 miles a day, every day.
His daily routine, he says, is pretty simple and doesn’t vary much. After he wakes up, he has breakfast (two slices of sourdough toast, almond butter, blueberries and coffee), gets ready to train, and then goes training.
Then it’s lunchtime (rice, root vegetables, and meat or fish), followed by two hours’ sleep, then dinner (see lunch for menu). He then prepares to train and goes training, after which it’s time for physio, a stretch, and bed. He said:
Ninety-nine percent of my days look like that. It’s what you have to do if you want to make it at the top level. You have to live differently. It’s a 24/7 job. You have to live it and think about it all the time – there's no time for anything else. I can’t remember the last time I went out for a coffee.
Confidence
That single-minded resolve was instilled at an early age by his father, the former Leeds United and England footballer Danny Mills, who taught him that giving less than 100% was a waste of time.
As an athlete, it’s stood George, who is a former pupil of Ashville College, Brackenfield School and St Aidan’s Church of England High School, in good stead. His commitment and the results accruing from it have given him the confidence that he can make the impossible possible. He said:
Confidence comes from preparation. We’ve really stepped up the level of training, and I’m doing stuff now that I’ve never done before. I feel as ready as I can be, but you have to respect the other competitors, because they’ll be at their peak too.
Competition
And there, of course, lies the snag. To claim the gold medal in Paris, George will have to get past, and stay ahead of, a lot of runners at their peak, and they don’t come any better than the Norwegian powerhouse Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
At the Bislett Games in Oslo in May, George came seventh in the 1500m, with a time of 3:31.57. Ingebrigtsen won it in 3:29.74.
Jakob, the youngest of the fabled Ingebrigtsen brothers, is the reigning Olympic champion and record-holder at 1500m, and he’s on form; last Friday he broke his own personal best to win at the Monaco Diamond League meet with a time of 3:26.73.
He’s a major obstacle to success in George’s other event too. George came second in the 5000m at the European Championships in Rome last month, with a time of 13:21.38, placing him behind only Ingebrigtsen (13:20.11), who is the current world champion at that distance.
George came second in the 5000m in Rome last month, just behind Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen (left).
Nevertheless, George’s star is in the ascendant. He ran the 5000m in a blistering 12:58.68 at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center in January; only one person has run it faster indoors since then.
And he claimed silver in the UK Championships in Manchester last month, behind teammate Neil Gourley.
Support
He’ll also have plenty of support to cheer him on in the Stade de France in Paris. His parents, who still live in Harrogate, will be there – as they were in Boston, Oslo, Rome and Manchester – and he’ll have friends there too.
He said:
They only ever see me at races – I'm pretty hard to pin down!
If all goes well, George could be following in the footsteps of two-time Olympic 5000m champion Sir Mo Farah, or even two-time Olympic 1500m gold medallist Lord Sebastian Coe. And if he doesn’t, it won’t be for want of trying. He said:
I’m very much of the belief that if you give 100% to something, you can’t fail. If you’re willing to make it your life, your only goal, you can achieve anything.
The Wanda Diamond League London Athletics Meet will be televised live today on BBC1 from 1.15pm. George’s race, the Emsley Carr Mile, is due to start at 3.19pm.
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