The European U20 cross country silver medallist is making huge progress training alongside Olympic 1500m champion

George Couttie claimed his first European medal in style at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, sprinting to men’s U20 silver in a dramatic finish against Dutch star Niels Laros in December.

A key factor in his success? Training under the guidance of Ben Thomas, the same coach behind 1500m Olympic champion Cole Hocker.

From Harrogate, Couttie joined Virginia Tech University last summer after spending a year in Charleston and, since then, he has taken huge strides forward, adding that cross country silver to a standout year that also saw him finish 14th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and reach the 3000m final at the World U20 Championships in Lima.

Now, as he enters his first track season with Virginia Tech, Couttie is aiming for national titles and to continue making his mark on the international stage.

How did you first get into athletics?

I used to run in school and do cross country. I got pretty good at it and I started parkruns. I did the first ever parkrun in my local area when I was nine years old and that’s how it all started.

I didn’t start track until a lot later on. That was because, when I left school I couldn’t do cross country throughout the summer so I picked it up, tried it out and really enjoyed it.

Why did you decide to move to Virginia Tech?

I spent a year in Charleston in West Virginia and then transferred to Virginia Tech. The main reason was because of Ben Thomas, who coaches Cole Hawker and Cooper Teare. The school has unbelievable facilities and I love the way Ben coaches. Some people say it’s a bit different and weird but it really works for me.

You don’t get the typical training sessions. It’s never: “Go do some 400ms on the track”, it’s always something different. We go from the cross country course to the track and to the hills all in one workout. It’s never typical, it’s always weird and there is always a twist.

It’s all different things that I have never done before and I really like the idea of all the cross training we do, as well. I have been pretty low mileage my whole life, I’ve never hit 100km a week until this year.

What is your relationship like with Ben?

He’s an interesting coach. He will never sugarcoat anything to give you crazy amounts of praise. When you get a well done, you know you’ve done a really good job, which I really like as an athlete. I like that he is honest and when he tells you that you can run a certain time, you know that it’s possible, which gives you a lot of confidence going into races.

We often do workouts with the post-collegiates like Cole and Cooper. Most of the time they do the same workouts as us, but sometimes it’ll be at different times.

We’ll sometimes go on our long run workouts with them. I remember first getting here and seeing him [Hocker] come to practice and it was a very cool moment, but you do get used to it. It’s nice to see them doing the same stuff as you and gives you confidence when you have the same coach.

You see both Cole and Cooper who both dominated the college scene when they were in college and now Cole’s winning world medals and Cooper isn’t too far off. I think it’s really cool to see the training pay off for them, knowing that it’s going to hopefully work just as well for me.

How did it feel to win the European Cross U20 silver medal?

It was a crazy confidence booster just to be able to compete with an amazing athlete [like Niels Laros]. Straight after the race I was annoyed because you are in a race to win and you don’t want to come second. The sprint finish is definitely going to hold onto me for a bit but I’ll be back and hopefully be able to race him again on the track and maybe it will be a different story.

But in hindsight it was still an amazing result and it was really nice to show how good my form is outside of the UK.  I’ve been on a couple teams but I feel like I’ve never been able to perform to the level that I’ve been at and that was the first time I thought I showed what I was capable of.

Obviously Mo Farah. He was the only athlete I really knew back then and I always looked up to him as a kid and read his book.

I look up to George Mills now. He lives near where my family are in the UK and he used to run at the same club I did [Harrogate]. His old coach was my old coach and I think he is an amazing athlete and he’s super dedicated.

Would you recommend the collegiate route?

I would definitely recommend it but I would also say be careful. You hear a lot of horror stories about people going over to the US and hating every second of it. You need to find the right fit. If it is the right fit then it will be the best decision you will ever make. Take your time, get to know the coaches, ask the right questions and it will be an amazing choice.

What are your goals for the year ahead?

Indoors, hopefully I can see how close I can get to winning a national title, and even to qualify for the 3000m indoors [at the European Championships] would be nice. Outdoors, I also want to see how close I can get to winning a title and then I will maybe even try for the Tokyo World team this summer if the time is right.

I’ve got a feeling that I could have a chance to run maybe one of the qualifying standards and then hopefully I can get myself there. If not, then the European U23 Championships will definitely be on the cards.

This interview first appeared in the February issue of AW magazine, which you can buy here