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British middle-distance runner channelled the pain of missing out on the World Champs into producing a flourishing finish to the season
After missing out on selection for the World Championships in Budapest, George Mills had a choice to make – feel sorry for himself or get back to work. He opted for the latter.
Having finished third in the 1500m at the British trials, he had to look on as Neil Gourley and Elliot Giles joined eventual champion Josh Kerr on the team. The day after receiving the news, Mills travelled to St Moritz at 6am. The work began immediately.
“You had world-class guys over 1500m [at the trials] and I was gutted not to make the team,” Mills says. “I didn’t feel like myself for a little bit of time after but there’s a fork in the road at that point so you go two ways. One is that you think: ‘Sod this and I’m done for the year’ or you knuckle down.
“Trials was probably one of the worst days of my life. You care so much about how it is and my main goal coming into this year was to make the team for the World Championships. You fail that outcome but then you also have process goals. That was then the aim.”
Eighth and 15th place finishes at the Silesia and London Diamond Leagues – Mills was tripped in the latter – followed but only added more fuel to the fire.
The 24-year-old, who has been sponsored by Swiss brand On for over a year now, decided to help train team-mates Tom Elmer and Luke McCann in Switzerland as they prepared for Budapest, by joining their high altitude workouts in the 10-day build-up to the championships.
His decision paid off handsomely in the latter part of the season, where the hard work took full effect.
The Bowerman Mile at this year’s Diamond League final will be remembered for a multitude of reasons. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:43.73) and Yared Nuguse (3:43.97) went third and fourth on the all-time list, it was the fastest mile race since 1999 and no fewer than 11 men ran quicker than 3:50.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Matthew Quine for Diamond League AG)
Third place went to Mills, who was just under four seconds behind the top two, but his 3:47.65 was still the seventh-fastest mile in the last decade and put him joint-15th on the all-time list. It was also the quickest mark by a Briton since 1985 and of his fellow countrymen only Steve Cram and Seb Coe are quicker over the distance.
Mills might have only raced over the mile on four occasions since the turn of the decade but over that time he has reduced his personal best from 3:58.73 to that 3:47.65 in Oregon.
It is progress but he’s not getting ahead of himself.
“That was probably the biggest stage [Diamond League final] I’ve ever ran on so to perform against those guys and place so high has to be the highlight [of the year],” Mills tells AW.
“For me it was actually a little bit annoying as I was beaten by four seconds by two guys. I was third but they were so far ahead. That’s the competitive side in me and you want to be competing at the highest level possible.
“You also obviously have to take it [being third on the UK mile all-time list] with a pinch of salt because if someone like Josh Kerr ran a mile then he’d be up there as well and have the capacity to go quicker. So I don’t think you should get too hyped up.”
That Diamond League final was the fifth race in a superb 19 days for Mills. A last-minute call-up to the Zurich Diamond League on August 31 saw him clock a 1500m personal best of 3:30.95 to go 10th on the UK all-time rankings.
He then recorded what was then a personal mile best of 3:49.64 at Pfungstädter Abendsportfest (September 3) before following that up with 3:34.51 over 1500m in Berlin (September 6). On September 10, Mills made his debut at New York’s 5th Avenue Mile and finished only behind Kerr in a British one-two in the Big Apple.
It’s a more than solid set of results to build upon.
George Mills, Josh Kerr, Geordie Beamish (NYRR)
Under the stewardship of Thomas Dreißigacker, Mills is one of 10 elite athletes at On Athletic Club (OAC) Europe, alongside fellow Brits Cari Hughes and Aimee Pratt. Between 2017-2020, Dreißigacker was head coach for running and race walks at the German athletics federation but joined On at the beginning of last year.
Mills has embraced the German’s philosophy of threshold and endurance training – also known as the ‘Norwegian model’ most associated with the success of Ingebrigtsen and more recently Narve Gilje Nordås.
“When I met him [Dreißigacker], we obviously wanted to change the training system into what he wanted us to do,” says Mills. “That was more threshold and endurance based. So higher volume, more stints at high altitude and reducing the intensity but increasing the regularity.
Thomas Dreißigacker (On Running)
“On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we’ll do two easy runs in the morning and evening. Then throw in a gym workout on one of those days and some rehab stuff after the morning run. Tuesdays and Thursdays is double threshold day and on Saturday we’ll do a harder run with a jog in the afternoon. Then on Sunday it’s the long run. Last year we got up to about to 25km on the long run.”
Mills, who was coached by Jon Bigg from 2017-2021, adds: “It took me a year and a bit to understand how Thomas wanted to work and it was frustrating to get the consistency with it as I didn’t know what everything meant.
“There’s the same base philosophy but not everyone has exactly the same training and it is tailored. For the key sessions he tries to get all of us together. We have five 1500m guys in the group. We can elevate each other’s level.”
While Mills spends his summer months in St Moritz, he is based over in Dullstroom, South Africa, from November to April, with an intervening period in Leipzig in January to prepare for the indoor season.
Son of Danny Mills, the ex-professional footballer who also represented England, the former British 1500m champion grew up in a household that understandably contained a high level of discipline. Mills was so young when Danny played that he wasn’t able to fully process his dad’s career but states he picked up habits. Hard work and never giving up was normalised.
He will need those traits next year.
George Mills with father Danny
With the Olympics on the horizon, getting one of the coveted three spots on the men’s 1500m team for Paris will be difficult. Five athletes, including Mills, have already gone below the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:33.50. Athletes like 2022 world champion Jake Wightman will no doubt add their name to that list next season.
Mills is under no illusion that the challenge will be great but he is relishing the opportunity.
“I said to Thomas at the end of last year that I’m not messing around now,” Mills says. “Diet, sleep and recovery. I am doing everything to the best I can.
“If you’re making the British team then you should make the Olympic final. It’s frustrating but also amazing. You have to be at the top of your game to make the team and you find out what your true limit is at that point. I wouldn’t change it as British guys are doing so well on the circuit. If you make the smallest mistake then you’ll be watching [the Olympics] on the TV.”
» This article first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine, which you can read here
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