COACHING legend Glen Mills is thrilled with the efforts of his explosive young sprinter Oblique Seville, after the 21-year-old’s fourth-place finish at the World Athletics Championships, and is looking forward to his continued development in the coming seasons following his strong showing in Eugene so far.

Mills, who recently returned to the national set-up as a technical consultant in Eugene, believes the experience will serve Seville well in the future and expects him to push on and consistently challenge for medals at upcoming international championships.

Seville, in only his third year as a professional, has catapulted himself up the ranks and is now not only Jamaica’s top male sprinter, but is also regarded highly across the international track and field landscape as one of the sport’s brightest promises.

This reputation was boosted by a brave run in the 100m final inside Hayward Field on Saturday, when his 9.97-second clocking left him just shy of a podium finish, with the American trio of Fred Kerley, 9.86; Marvin Bracy, 9.88; and Trayvon Bromell, 9.88, securing the medals in a USA sweep.

“When he ran the 9.86 he signalled to me that it was a tremendous jump because we’re looking at the lines moving gradually down the nine-second ranks and then into the 9.8s in terms of the progression — but it is testimony to how talented he really is and that he can really go places,” Mills said of Seville’s personal best-run at a Jubilee Series meet in late May.

“He has tremendous speed and we have to work on several other areas to complement that speed. We have started the process. I knew it would take more than just one or two seasons but where we are now, I am very elated and confident that the programme is going the right way and I feel confident, based on what I’ve seen, that the next time around on the journey, it will be a totally different outcome once he is healthy,” Mills told the Jamaica Observer.

“The experience that he has gained in terms of competition and the experience of competing against the best in the world and coming out with what I consider very positive results, lends itself to a very good future. At the age of 21 I’m really elated with what he has been able to achieve this year and I think that before the year is done; because he has a couple more races, he could probably improve on his time. So the future is very bright and I am very pleased,” added Mills.

Seville, who turned pro ahead of the 2020 season, is competing at his second senior international championships. He made it to the 100m semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year and has taken several big steps forward this season, becoming the sixth-fastest Jamaican in history.

In fact, since running that 9.86 Seville has posted six consecutive sub-10 seconds times in the 100m.

“This is his third year with me. In the first year I never really pushed him because he was coming out of high school and was still high school age, and he suffered a slight setback in his preparation, so I just backed off and allowed him — I wouldn’t say a year off — but I just allowed him the time to recover from the setback and so on,” Mills shared.

“So after that we restarted what I call a three-year programme of development. There are major areas that he needs to work on and develop so that he can compete with the best in the world and eventually attain that status, so I’ve been very patient. Last year we were able to make the Olympic team despite several setbacks. This season, however, we had less of a problem and things are much smoother. We are seeing the foundation that we are laying gradually blossoming.”

Seville will now turn his attention to the 4x100m relays. The sprinter will not be competing at the Commonwealth Games, which gets underway next week in Birmingham, England, and will instead recover and head back into training.

Meanwhile Mills, who led legends such as Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake in their best performances, is looking forward to continuing his support of the national programme by offering his expertise and experience.

Mills served as Jamaica’s head coach at major championships for over 20 years before stepping down in 2009.

He credits the island’s coaching brain thrust for the country’s continued success in athletics but called for greater care with junior athletes and collaboration between younger coaches and their more- xperienced counterparts.

“We have a tremendous reservoir of talent … There is a great thrust I think right now with several good high school coaches who are making the transition into the professional ranks,” Mills stated.

“My major concern, however, is that we continue to push the youngsters in a way that in many instances is detrimental to their continued development at the higher level — and I would implore the coaches who have the responsibility of working with these youngsters at this tender age to pay more attention to those that exhibit the kind of rare talent and nurture them more, take greater care in trying to prevent injury,” he added.