‘He took me out!’: George Mills rages after collision with France’s Hugo Hay in chaotic 5000m
The Team GB runner was left furious after a slow 5000m heat caused a messy finish at the Stade de France
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George Mills was left furious after France’s Hugo Hay appeared to cost him a place in the 5000m final after a major fall in the heats at the Olympics.
The Team GB runner – who is the son of former Premier League and England footballer Danny Mills – was involved in a chaotic finish to the first heat of the event at the Stade de France.
Mills was in a pack of runners with 100m remaining and poised to battle for seventh position and a place in the final.
Hay, who would finish seventh and qualify for the final, appeared to reach out to his right, sending Mills sprawling into Spain's Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Team Refugee's Dominic Lobalu.
The trio then tumbled to the ground, with the Netherlands' Mike Foppen also caught up in the chaos and left on his back.
Australia's Stewart McSweyn was also impeded and forced to leapfrog Foppen. And after a lengthy review, the quartet have now been advanced to the final.
“This guy came and took me out,” a furious Mills told Europsport. “He took me out! I hope [there is an appeal], but it's out of my control.
“Being in France and with it being a French guy taking me out, I can't see anything happening.
“It turned into a sprint finish, me stepping up to the five, it suits me a lot. I dodged one fall at the bell.
“I just got taken out, I went down 80m out. I don't know how it looked. I knew I was boxed in, let's be patient, then I hit the deck.”
Hay denied causing the incident, but conceded he was not sure what caused the issue.
“It was a big collision,” Hay admitted. “It's not me, somebody pushed me, something happened, I turned around and everybody was on the floor. I hope it's not me, I've been really good.”
Jakob Ingebrigtsen returned from a disappointing 1500m final on Tuesday after finishing fourth and outside the podium.
The Norwegian won the second heat, though, in an event he has been able to control the tempo more easily.
Ingebrigtsen and now Mills, too, will return for the 5000m final on 10 August at 6:50pm BST.
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