Derek Mills

Derek Mills (born July 9, 1972 in Washington, DC ) is an American track and field athlete who was active in the early 1990s. He won three gold medals as a member of his country's 4-by-400-meter relay .

He made his first international appearance in 1990 when he won gold over 4 x 400 meters as the starting runner of the US team at the Junior World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria . In the individual race over 400 meters , he finished fifth.

The following years were not very successful for Derek Mills. As sixth in the trials, he had to stay away from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona . In 1993 he took part in the World Championships in Stuttgart as a relay runner , but only played the preliminary runs. It wasn't until 1994 that he caught the eye again when he won the university championships in 45.96 s. At the US championships he missed the final, but scored seven times under 45 seconds on a European tour. He won the final of the Grand Prix in Paris in 44.22 seconds before his compatriot Antonio Pettigrew and at Weltklasse Zürich .

In 1995 he was victorious at the New York Games in 44.86 s and at the Prefontaine Classics in Eugene in the personal best of 44.13 s ahead of Darnell Hall and Butch Reynolds . However, since he was only able to place fourth in the subsequent US championships despite an excellent 44.58 s, he was only nominated as a relay runner for the world championships in Gothenburg . Running in second position, he won his second gold medal.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , he was also not a single runner, but entered the relay again and won - this time running in third position - his third relay gold.

At the end of his career, he won the US Indoor Championships in 1997. Apart from the university championship in 1994, he had not been able to win an individual outdoor title.

Derek Mills graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville and Georgia Tech, where he was trained by Grover Hinsdale . Today he works as an assistant trainer at Tulane University in New Orleans . He is 1.75 m tall and weighed 72 kg during his playing days.

Performance statistics

• Junior World Championships 1990 in Plovdiv :
  • GOLD over 4 × 400 m in 3: 02.26 min before Great Britain (silver in 3: 03.80 min)
  • Fifth over 400 m
• Final of the 1994 Grand Prix in Paris :
  • GOLD over 400 m in 45.22 s ahead of Antonio Pettigrew (silver in 45.26 s) and the Kenyan Samson Kitur (bronze in 45.37 s)
• World Championships 1995 in Gothenburg
  • GOLD over 4 × 400 m in 2: 57.32 minutes (as second runner together with Marlon Ramsey , Butch Reynolds and Michael Johnson ) ahead of Jamaica (silver in 2: 59.88 minutes) and Nigeria (bronze in 3: 03.18 min)
• 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta
  • GOLD over 4 × 400 m in 2: 55.99 min (as the third runner together with LaMont Smith , Alvin Harrison and Anthuan Maybank ) ahead of Great Britain (silver in 2: 56.60 min) and Jamaica (bronze in 2: 59.42 min)
• Final of the 1996 Grand Prix in Milan :
  • BRONZE over 400 m in 45.24 s behind his compatriots Michael Johnson (gold in 44.53 s) and Anthuan Maybank (silver in 45.19 s)
• National championships
  • 1990: Second 400 m juniors
  • 1991: Sixth 400 m juniors, seventh 400 m NCAA
  • 1992: Third 400 m NCAA, third 4 × 400 m hall NCAA, MASTER 4 × 400 m open air NCAA
  • 1993: Third 400 m hall and open air NCAA, sixth 400 m USATF (44.62 s), MEISTER 4 × 400 m hall NCAA, third 4 × 400 m open air NCAA
  • 1994: MASTER 400 m (45.06 sec.) And 4 × 400 m NCAA, third 4 × 400 m hall NCAA
  • 1995: Second 400 m indoor USATF (45.59 s), fourth 400 m open air USATF (44.58 s)
  • 1996: Fifth 400 m open air USATF (44.67 s)
  • 1997: MEISTER 400 m hall USATF (46.09 s)

Web links

• Short biography ( memento of October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) USA Track & Field