By Will Jennings at the Stade de France

GEORGE MILLS admits his failure to progress through his 1500m heat proved fatal after crashing out in the Olympic semi-finals in Paris.

The Harrogate middle distance star, son of former England footballer Danny, finished 11th on Saturday night after being forced to do things the hard way and battle through a repechage to reach the penultimate stage.

Mills had finished 10th in his heat on Friday so had to race again the following day in order to successfully navigate his way to the semi-finals at the Stade de France.

He admits feeling fatigued after competing for three consecutive days but is hoping the experiences will benefit him as he turns his attention to the 5000m later this week.

“I knew my back was up against the wall a little bit,” he said.

“With messing up in the first round and having to run the repechage, that’s made it three days on a row.

“I did everything I could do to get my body ready for today, but it wasn’t meant to be today.

“It will be nice to get back out there for the 5K. But the most important thing right now is to back and recover.

“Recovery from the last three days, has been a good learning experience. I was happy with how I did yesterday and moving on from the set back of the first round.”

Mills won his first British title at the 2020 UK Athletics Championships before moving to third on the British mile all-time list in September 2023

And a stunning European 5000m silver in Rome laid the perfect foundations for his Olympic debut, where he is being watched on by former Leeds United left-back Danny at the iconic French stadium.

Mills will take to the 5000m stage in Paris on Wednesday while in the 1500m final tonight, Josh Kerr is preparing for a box office battle with Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Kerr, 26, picked the pocket of the Norwegian to snatch a dramatic World Championship title in Budapest last year and is vowing to emulate those exploits on the biggest stage of all.

“They should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500 metres this sport has seen for a very long time,” he said.

“I am ready to go after it. I think we all are. There has been a lot of talk and words over the last 12 months, even two years.

“I am looking to settle that on Tuesday and give it my best performance. I will show that in the final.

“I have been picturing this for my whole life. I will put on a performance in front of millions of people. And give our sport the best crowd experience – that’s my job.

"I believe I’m the strongest and fastest 1500m runner in the world. Jakob will try to win, I will try to win, and we will see who wins.”

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