George Mills: British 5,000m record-holder ‘can be in the mix with the best’

Despite breaking the record, when meeting with his family after the race George was reminded by his younger brother – Oxford United footballer Stanley Mills – that he had only finished fourth.

“We’re all like that,” George said with a smile of his high-achieving sporting family. “When you achieve something like that, you can always do something better.”

According to his father, George has always had the drive and goal-orientated mindset to keep achieving more.

Danny Mills – who won 19 England caps and played at the 2002 World Cup – said being from a family which had never settled after success was playing a part in his son’s improvement.

“He’s grown up in that world, seen how I was, and you don’t always understand what kids take in,” Mills senior told BBC Sport.

“It’s a family where you don’t rest on your laurels. His success is brilliant, but brief, and you have to keep working hard.”

Even so, former Leeds and Manchester City defender Mills acknowledged that obliterating a record set by multiple Olympic gold winner Farah was something special.

“To eclipse a record that has stood for 14 years, breaking the record of a world legend like Mo Farah, that is very special,” he said.

“It was a fantastic night in Oslo – we travel the world, we don’t miss many events as a family.

“We always get to see him post-race, sometimes we have to wait a long time, as he has his warm down and drugs testing to do. We waited up, and saw him after midnight.”

While Mills was caught by Nico Young of the United States in the final 400m, after he led at the bell, his performance laid down a marker in a race which turned into an assault on the world record set by Joshua Cheptegei in 2020.

“He was brave, it looked like the race would be tactical but he took it on from two laps out,” said Danny. “You become the rabbit, but he was really keen to break the British record.”