Some athletes celebrate their first major medal with a night on the town. Others, with a modest drink or two. But after George Mills had won a gutsy European championship 5,000m silver behind only the brilliant Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, he promised that his only indulgence would be some fermented kombucha – if he could find any in Rome – before going back into hard training on Sunday.
But what a performance Mills produced in only his third run over the distance. After a slow race, Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic 1500m champion and double 5,000m world champion, pushed for home at the bell. Yet the 25-year-old Mills refused to submit, harrying his esteemed rival down the back straight before Ingebrigtsen powered away to win his third European 5,000m title in 13mins 20.11sec.
