George Mills Masters Mo as British 5,000m Record Goes

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Over the years the UK has had some fantastic male middle- and long-distance runners, with names such as Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Seb Coe, and, before all that Sydney Wooderson, legends of athletics in this country. Right now Team GB also boasts incredible athletes such as Josh Kerr, whose rivalry with Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen is captivating, and Jake Wightman, the 1500m world champion in 2022.

However, perhaps the biggest name and most well-known character of recent times is Mo Farah. In the home Olympics of 2012, Mo captured the hearts of the nation with his gritty running, winning smile and famous “Mobot” celebration. That he won double gold at the Games also rather helped, with incredible wins in the 5,000m and 10,000m. He then did the “double-double” by defending both crowns four years on in Rio, well and truly cementing his place in British – and even world – athletics history.

Nobody can take those four Olympic gold medals away from Mo, or Sir Mo, as he has been since 2017. However, on the 12th of June, a less heralded British athlete, George Mills, did take one of Mo’s records. At an incredible Diamond League Meeting in Oslo, the 26-year-old ran a sensational 5,000m, crossing the line in 12:46.59. Amazingly that was only good enough for fourth in a super-quick race in which he led at the bell.

Mills Breaks British Record

Mills won silver medals in the 5,000m at the 2024 European Championships and at the 2025 European Indoor Championships over 3,000m. He is clearly in great shape right now and at the age of 26 is probably approaching his peak years. In Oslo he lost the lead with about 200m to go, with US star Nico Young striking out, and was passed by Ethiopian pair Biniam Mehary and Kuma Girma too.

It was such a fast race that way down in 10th place, Swiss runner Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu still set a new national record. Young ran a PB of 12:45.27, the second fastest time of the year, whilst Mills knocked a massive 12 seconds off his personal best.

In doing that he easily set a new British record, his time of 12 minutes, 46 seconds and a little change being a marked improvement on Farah’s time of 12:53.11 that he set back in 2011. Mills will be disappointed to have finished fourth but he ran a bold race, from the front, and said, “The national record was definitely one of the things I came for.” He added perspective to his fourth-place finish by saying that “The race was … billed as a world record attempt, so to be in the mix was important. My target for the season is a global medal and this shows I am in the right space.”

Whilst the field had the class and strength in depth for an attempt at the world record, in the end they fell some way short. Despite it being a brilliantly quick race, it was around 10 seconds shy of the current record of 12:35.36. That was set by Ugandan star Joshua Cheptegei in 2020, breaking the longstanding record of 12:37.35 that had been run back in 2004 by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele.

Mills is clearly some way shy of that, with this 12-second jump a massive PB for him. There should be more to come from him too, though whether he can achieve his aim of a medal at the worlds or Olympics remains to be seen. There are so many amazing distance runners around at the moment and times are getting quicker and quicker.

Why are Records Tumbling?

Across a range of distances from around 1,500m up to the marathon and beyond, in both elite men’s and women’s athletics, plus masters sport, records have been tumbling over the past five or so years. Some of the benchmarks that have been set in the past are considered to be dubious, with doping question marks hanging over the athletes that set them. It would be very naive to think that doping has been eradicated but it is perhaps harder now than in the past, despite the constant game of cat and mouse that plays out between those seeking to cheat and those attempting to stop them.

But if we assume that today’s runners are, by and large, clean, why are so many records being broken? There are a number of reasons, some more relevant to some distances than others. Modern supershoes and superspikes have made a big difference over all distances, whilst nutritional advances such as the use of bicarb as a lactic acid buffer, or beetroot juice for its nitrates, have also helped. In ultramarathons and multi-day events, many of the big jumps may be mental, with more people testing the limits of what is possible after seeing others achieve things that many believed could not be done.

The Mills Dynasty

Returning to the current 5,000m British record holder, we can safely assume that genetics and culture, a fine combination of nature and nurture, have helped him become the runner he is. Mills, George that is, was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in May 1999. His father, Danny Mills, joined Leeds United that June, so we assume it was good planning ahead by the Mills family and they moved north from Charlton, where Mills senior had been playing in the 1998/99 campaign.

Danny was a fine footballer, capped 19 times by England, who played in the PL for Charlton, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Man City and Derby County. He was known for his energy and aggression and these are traits that George certainly brings to the track.

George also has a sporting sibling, with younger brother Stanley having been on the books at Leeds as a youth before moving to Everton to finish his development. He was offered his first pro contract in 2021 and stayed at the Toffees until 2025, though he made just two appearances for the club, both in the League Cup.

He was on loan at Oxford in 2023/24 and did well enough to earn a full contract with the U’s. Stanley is just 21 years old and given his family background, we wouldn’t bet against him playing higher up the Football League as he matures.