Some athletes spent a night on the town celebrating their first major medal. Others have a drink or two. But after George Mills claimed the European Championships with a 5000m silver medal, just behind talented Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, he committed to a fresh start on Sunday Before training, his only indulgence was some fermented kombucha (if he could find it in Rome).
But what a performance Mills made on his third long run. After a slow race, reigning Olympic 1500m champion and double 5,000m world champion Ingebritsson fought her way home at the bell. But Mills, 25, refused to give in and chased his esteemed rival down the straight before Ingebrigtsen powered on to win his third European 5000m title in 13 minutes 20.11 seconds.
Mills finished just over a second behind to comfortably win Britain their first medal at the European Championships. And, as he later admitted, he did briefly believe he could emulate his fellow Britons Jack Whiteman and Josh Cole and overtake Ingebritson in the majors.
“Coming straight down the back, I thought, ‘My legs feel okay, but I’m in pain.'” But he had another piece of equipment — he was a world-class Olympic champion. So it shows the level I have to reach.
When asked how he would celebrate, Mills responded: “No celebration. Nothing. It’s the middle of the season and the season ends in mid-September.
“Running is my hobby,” he added. “I would love to do my next run on Sunday. I think if you celebrate in the middle of the season it would be a bit strange.
While young Mills refuses to get carried away, his proud father Danny – who won 19 England caps – is understandably excited. “He’s one of the most dedicated athletes I know,” Mills said, citing the moment his son went to Switzerland for ON training camp as a key turning point. “I’ve spent my whole life in sports. For George, we left no stone unturned.
“You work for 10 years for a moment like this, and then you have 13 minutes to perform,” he added. “It was like a 13-minute penalty shootout. It was sudden death from the start – you’re waiting for someone to miss because there are so many things that could go wrong. But he believes in himself. He backs himself too. We were tonight A very proud family.
Mills Sr. never played at the Stadio Olimpico but was on the bench as Leeds beat Lazio and drew with Roma. “So Rome is a great place for the Mills family,” he added. “I think we might come back.”
GB’s second medal of the night came in the men’s 100m, with Romell Glave finishing third behind Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs.
In fact, Jacobs didn’t need to be at his best to win in 10.02 seconds, ahead of compatriot Chituru Ali, who ran 10.05 seconds. Glave is always controversial but ran no better than 10.06. Another British competitor, CJ Ujah, failed to reach the semi-finals with a time of 10.24.
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Earlier in the evening, a high-quality men’s long jump final was won by Olympic and world champion Miltiádis Tentóglou with a European Championship record 8.65m.
The Greek, who described World Athletics’ proposal to scrap the long jump board as “bullshit”, beat exciting Italian teenager Mattia Furlani, who took silver with 8.38m, and Britain’s Jacob Jacob Fincham-Dukes finished fourth with 8.12m.
Another Olympic champion, Belgian player Nafi Thiam, won the women’s heptathlon championship with a best score of 6848 points. Leading silver medalist Auriana Lazraq-Khlass of France was 213 points. Britain’s Jade O’Dowda ranked sixth with a personal best of 6314.
The best time of the third championship was the women’s 100-meter hurdles. French star Cyréna Samba-Mayela won the gold medal with a time of 12.31 seconds. Britain’s Cindy Sember was fourth in 12.56.
At the same time, another British man, Scott Lincoln, finished fourth in the men’s shot put competition with a score of 20.88m, just 6 centimeters away from the medal. He can say that he was unlucky. Leonardo Fabbri won the event with a time of 22.45m.
This is Italy’s fifth gold medal so far in these championships and their tenth medal.
