The 22-year-old opens up about training in South Africa, becoming a New Balance athlete and upcoming 2024 goals

Like so many athletes who are now competing in the sport, Alex Millard was inspired by London 2012.

Millard, who went from beating the boys in races in school to joining her local club Invicta East Kent, states that Jess Ennis-Hill was her biggest idol. No surprise that Millard initially tried out the multi-events. However, she quickly discovered that running was her strongest point and the rest is history.

Fast forward to 2024 and Millard, who is in her last year at Loughborough University studying sports science, has started her season off with a bang.

A New Balance athlete, Millard made the pilgrimage to Boston last month and dropped her 5000m personal best from 15:43.41 to 15:27.02 at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational (February 9). She is already one of five British women who have gone sub-15:30 during the indoor season [the other four being Hannah Nuttall, Izzy Fry, Jenny Nesbitt and Aimee Pratt].

Millard also clocked 9:06.33 to win the BUCS indoor 3000m crown in Sheffield and impressively took two seconds off Lisa Dobriskeys 19-year-old championships record.

Its the same success story over cross country. Millard, who won Euro Cross under-23 individual bronze two years ago, also claimed victory in the long race at the BUCS Cross Country Championships last winter.

Success on the grass and track has set up the season perfectly for Millard, who wants to just enjoy this summer and embrace the opportunities.

Shell be able to test herself out over 5km at this weekends SportsShoes.com Podium Festival (March 16). It will be a good opportunity for the 22-year-old to see how much progress she has made over the winter months, ahead of the outdoor track season.

AW chats exclusively to Millard below:

How do you reflect on your personal bests in Boston and, more generally, the start to the 2024 season? 

Yeah, it was really nice. It was a great experience and although I was obviously hoping to run a personal best, I didnt put much pressure on myself to get a certain time or anything.

So I was really happy to come out with that. To get sub-15:30 and win the race was nice as well. It was just a great confidence booster, especially off the back of a good training camp in South Africa, going into the 2024 outdoor season.

Boston was just great opportunity to run a fast 5000m. The indoor 3000m personal best was at BUCS and that was going for the win and getting a 19-year championships record. I never went into the race thinking I had to get this record and it just kind of happened. That was confidence boosting going forward.

Whats the big difference between racing in the UK v US? 

Boston was really cool and the Boston University track has a reputation of being super fast. There were people on the inside cheering as well and although it was 25 laps of the track, the time flew by in all honesty. There was noise the whole way round.

To be fair, the atmosphere at BUCS is always great as well, isnt it? All the universities get involved! That was championships racing as opposed to being with a train of athletes trying to run a fast time. So it was nice to have both experiences in my first indoor season as a senior athlete. Just a taste of it and I didnt want to do too much.

How was training in South Africa during the winter? 

Yeah, it was amazing. To be honest, it was the first time Id been on a proper camp. Ive been to Portugal before, which was great but this was my first camp at altitude and it was also a bit hotter. I definitely felt the difference.

I was in the British Athletics camp. Being surrounded by athletes like Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie and Lizzie Bird and seeing how they go about their kind of training was just really cool to experience. Just get a taste of what its like and more generally getting into a routine was cool. Im not really a napper but I had time to do that if I felt like it.

It felt like everyone from Britain had moved to Potchefstroom. You also had Ellie Baker out there, I was training with Izzy Fry and I havent even mentioned Trevor Painters group, albeit they were training separately to us. It was clearly the place to be in January. We did join in with runs with some of the other girls but for the most part everyone got on with what they were doing.

So what does a normal training week look like for you and does that change much nearer the outdoor track season as well? 

So during the winter, on a Monday its a classic four miles in the morning and six miles later on in the day. Tuesday will be a track session or grass session. Wednesday, an hour run. I also do gym on Monday and Wednesday. Thursday is dedicated to tempo runs and thats kind of the thing this year that weve been starting to increase a bit more. Id never really done much tempo before but got up to a bit of a longer one when I was in Potchefstroom. I feel like I felt the benefits of that in terms of my strength coming off that.

Friday, always a rest day. Saturday will be a session. So I guess as we move towards the track a bit more, itll become more track based but its been more sort of hills and grass over the winter months. Sunday will be a long run obviously.

The structure kind of stays the same But we reduce the volume as we come into racing.

Id say traditionally and historically, my racing has been more down to my feel. But recently, Ive done some testing. So thats been interesting. Its not necessarily changed much. Its sort of just confirmed, you know, what kind of zones and paces I need to be training at for certain sessions. Its been really interesting to have that data and access to that at Loughborough has been really good.

How influential has cross country been to you and what was the impact of going to represent Great Britain at last years World Cross Country Championships in Australia? 

I think cross country is great and I love it. I look back at last years Euro Cross course in Brussels and that was just so tough. It was muddy and hilly but thats only going to help your strength coming into the summer. Consistency is the main thing during winter and that also includes avoiding injury. Thats only going to benefit your track season and its important.

Its been an amazing journey and the main thing Ive learned is just to enjoy it. Im excited for whats ahead and just got to keep trying to be consistent and take opportunities when they arise.

[Going out to Australia] was an amazing experience. It was just a no brainer to aim for it and something I may never get to do ever again. It was very hot but luckily I was only running 2km in the relay! So yeah, it was manageable. Hats off to all the 10km runners. The course was, again, something that was probably a once in a lifetime experience. They really pulled out all the stops. They had a bit of everything in there.

It was an honour to represent Great Britain down under and learn from athletes in our own team like Alex Bell. It was also really fun being part of the relay team because it was towards the end of the cross country season and felt like a bit of a celebration as a team. It was fun. Plus being surrounded by some of the top international athletes was an incredible experience.

How do you get into the sport and what was your journey? 

Id say it was probably the kind of classic way through sports day at school. I realised I was quite good and beat the boys.

I joined my local club around the time of London 2012. I started in a multi events group and I realised probably quite quickly that I just kind of wanted to run. High jump wasnt for me! So, yeah, then I just started running.

I didnt manage to go to London 2012 but it was just seeing it on the TV every day that was inspiring. My parents are pretty sporty. So they loved it as well and had it on the whole time. Jess Ennis-Hill was a bit of an idol to me and what she did was really cool. Shes an amazing athlete and so lovely.

It was only however when I got to Loughborough University that athletics got more serious and thats when training really took off I did other sports like hockey growing up and that helped me in my journey as well.

How do you view the strength in depth of current British middle distance and now distance running?

Yeah, I think its really cool. I feel like weve got a number of new and up-and-coming girls who are smashing it on the track. But then you look at the top distance women and theyre almost like theyre around 30. Its cool to see because it shows Ive still got loads of time. Its not necessarily like everyones running their best in their mid-20s.

Generally its exciting and everyone is improving. That pushes everyone on to improve. I feel like Im going into this year where I dont feel much pressure to run a certain time. Youve got the European standards which would be nice to get but I feel like if I get it, itll be too late. By that point, the girls will be running so well. So I feel like Im in a quite nice place.

Im just going to go into the summer with the mindset of just enjoying it and running as fast as I can. So lets see what I can do?

Im definitely not going to the Olympics and its unlikely that Im going to make the Euros at this point. But Im content with that. Obviously, Im going to try and run as fast as I can but its my first year as a senior.

How was it to get the New Balance sponsorship and how has that helped you both as a person and as an athlete?

Yeah, it actually came about quite suddenly, back in 2022. I was running well in the cross country season and won the Milton Keynes Cross Challenge which was quite unexpected. I think that was my first kind of senior win and the first time I was like, oh, wow, Ive actually just beaten some really good girls.

From there I ran well in Liverpool to qualify for the 2022 Euro Cross and gain my first Great Britain vest. There were kind of talks with New Balance already but then I got the Euro under-23 individual bronze. That was a bit of a shock and it consolidated the whole New Balance thing at the time. It was so nice to have backing from them on, I guess, a potential kind of basis.

It was just exciting and motivating. Theyve been amazing. As a brand, they spoil us! Theyre very kind to us. When I went to Boston to race it was just really cool to be around all the New Balance athletes and see how it all worked out there.

I think that everyones obviously elevating their shoe game and Im a big fan of the New Balance shoes. What theyre doing is great.

What do you make of the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival this weekend?

I think its great. I think what Chris [Barnes] is doing in the sport with Podium 5k is really cool. This event sounds like its going to be one of the best yet. The amount of people that have entered seeing the start list is ridiculous. The elite races are rolling and thats really exciting.

I think itll be a really fun celebration of running and hopefully some fast times will come out of it as well. It looks like itll be cool for the spectators as well and that will bring the atmosphere. So yeah, looking forward to it. Just fingers crossed for good weather.

I went to watch Night of the 10,000m PBs last year and that continued atmosphere and noise just lifts you as an athlete so we need more stuff like that in the future. I dont know how we can do that precisely but I think thats the way to make it more fun, bring spectators down and ultimately make the sport more popular.