DERBY'S teenage hurdles prospect Yasmin Miller loved every second of her taste of the big time as she raced for the first time against British athletics superstar Jessica Ennis.

Miller, still only 16, smashed her personal best for 60 metres hurdles at the Aviva Indoor UK Trials and Championships in Sheffield.

In doing so, she came in half a second down on star multi-eventer Ennis, finishing fifth in the final in Sheffield.

Miller started with a season's top time of 8.54 seconds and bettered that in the final, clocking a new lifetime best of 8.51.

Going to Sheffield, she knew there was no guarantee of sharing a track with Ennis but, in the final, she was drawn alongside the world indoor pentathlon champion – but she gave as good as she got, despite suffering from a cold over the weekend.

"It went really well, it was a good run," said Miller.

"My aim going there was to try to get a good time, so I'm happy with a PB. I've had a bit of a cold as well.

"It was an amazing experience. I was happy I was next to Jess Ennis and it was a really good race.

"The weekend was great. I was really pleased with making the final, firstly, and I'll be looking to build on this.

"It's been going well and it's all about building for the outdoors."

Miller's coach, former Olympian Jared Deacon, had no qualms about putting his young charge in with the seniors for the first time.

"Yasmin did well. She was really excited about racing alongside Ennis but not over-awed," said Deacon.

"Although she did a PB in the final, there are still improvements to make.

"It was just good to see her challenging against top senior opposition and holding her own.

"We went for her to get some experience and it proved to be a good one."

One of Miller's age group rivals, Lucy Hatton, beat her in the heats but Miller finished in front of her in the final.

Now the two will come up against each other again in the England Under-20 Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

"Lucy ran a PB to beat Yasmin in the heats but Yasmin hit back in the final, so the head-to-head should be interesting in Birmingham," added Deacon.

Belper multi-eventer David Feeney had to make do with fourth place in the 60m hurdles B final, after just missing out on a place in the A final.

The 24-year-old came home in 8.09 seconds but, as primarily a decathlete, he was happy with his day's work.

"I'm a decathlete, so this is my chance to run with all the other hurdlers and the big boys. Any chance to get another race is always a bonus," he said.

"Now I'm looking forward to having a good decathlon during the summer.

"It's always a good experience coming up against experienced hurdlers, they're better than the decathletes I normally race against and it's a lot easier for them."

In the women's 3000m, Derby athlete Ellie Stevens could only manage 11th place, crossing the line in 9 minutes, 34.23 seconds, a few seconds outside her personal best.

After four races in a week, Stevens, who runs for Birchfield Harriers, admitted the Sheffield race was perhaps one too far.

But after her repeated illness and injury problems of the last few years, she remains happy to be running at all.

"It was really hard work," she said.

"I was trying to keep with the pace and hang in – I've raced four times in seven days so I'm pretty spent!

"I'm just trying to get PBs for now. What I'm doing now is a million times better from what I have been doing and it's nice just to have a clean bill of health."

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