My name is Holly Mills and I was born on the 15th April 2000 to my parents Helen and Steve. I have a younger sister called Abbie, who is also a keen athlete.

I was introduced to athletics by my dad at the age of 8 whilst I was a pupil at Hurstbourne Tarrant Primary school, when another parent suggested athletics to him after I ‘looked fast’ at a sports day.

I joined Andover Athletics Club at the age of 8 and at the age of 10 I was spotted and had my first coaching session with James Coney. James usually only coached older athletes but saw potential in 10 year old me, and he has been my only coach ever since. I tried everything over the years – but it was established that long jump was my strongest event, followed by hurdles and sprints.

When I was 14, I began to progress quickly and won more prestigious titles - English schools, South of England, Nationals. Then as a ‘lower age’ under 17 woman, I finally jumped over 6m in the long jump! In 2015 I was awarded a place on the England team to compete in my first International event in Glasgow, where I took the Gold medal and performed a Personal Best of 6.26m.

My athletics career really took off from here!

I won the 2015 South of England Championships with a jump of 6.29m, which ranked me 4th on the UK all time under 17 women’s Long Jump. I began winning more regional, national and international competitions as I progressed, gaining my first ever Great Britain vest in 2016 when invited to compete for GB Juniors in the Loughborough International.

After this I was selected to compete for Great Britain in the European Youth Championships in Tbilisi, where I won and became European Youth Long Jump Champion. This is the highlight of my athletics career to date.

Over the past year I moved up to the under 20 women’s age group and have competed for Great Britain or England in Spain, Austria, and Wales, all of which I have been successful in winning.

I have also been selected to compete in the Commonwealth Youth games in the Bahamas in July this year. I am hoping for big success at the Commonwealths and cannot wait to represent my country once more.