Golden boy George Mills races to victory at British Athletics Indoor Championships

The 20-year-old rounded off a dream week by grabbing gold and scooping his first senior British title in Glasgow, just seven days after notching a new personal best time.

And, the former St Aidan’s School pupil is now setting his sights on Olympic Games qualification.

“It feels amazing to have won the title, the run couldn’t have gone any better,” said Mills, who has competed for Harrogate Harriers in the past.

“I was feeling good after getting my new personal best last week and I knew I could give the Indoor Championships a good shot.

“The result was great, but it’s not the most important thing. It was more about the processes of the indoor season and using it to learn and improve.

“I’ll take those lessons into the outdoor season with me and keep working hard towards the Olympic Games qualifiers in June."

Mills, son of former England, Manchester City and Leeds United footballer Danny Mills, scooped the 1500m title in a time of 3:50.69, defeating British junior record-holder Tom Keen (3:52.40).

Identified in his teens as a big prospect, his first senior gold has been years in the planning.

Mills was among 21 young athletes inducted into the British Athletics Futures Academy in 2018 on the back of him winning the 800m title at the 2016 European under-18 championships.

His development was fast-tracked in the hope that he would go on to repeat his junior success at senior level, something that the former Middlesbrough FC academy footballer has now achieved.

But, Mills has no time to rest on his laurels, with an altitude training camp in the USA looming in April ahead of a busy summer.

In addition to his promising athletics career, the former European under-18s 800m champion is also studying for a degree in Sports Science at the University of Brighton, though, his ultimate focus remains firmly set on Olympic glory.

“I would love to be an Olympic champion one day and make it to the very top level,” Mills added.

“It’s ambitious, but if you are not ambitious then you won’t push yourself.”

It was during his studies at university that Mills discovered a supplement that he believes could help him realise his ambition of competing at the Olympics in the future.

New Zealand blackcurrant extract, CurraNZ, is a legal performance booster that helps to reduce muscle fatigue and enhance the immune system.

“I looked into the performance benefits of CurraNZ to see if it was something that could help me,” Mills added.

“And I have definitely noticed the difference since I started taking it in October 2019.”