DEREK MILES
Event: Pole vault
Height: 6-3
Weight: 190
PR: 5.85m/19-2.50 (2004i & 2008)
Born: September 28, 1972 in Sacramento, Calif.
Current Residence: Tea, S.D.
High School: Bella Vista (Fair Oaks, Calif.) HS
College: University of South Dakota '96
Coach: Earl Bell/Lucky Huber
Agent: Karen Locke
Club: Bell Athletics/Nike

Career Highlights: 2008 Olympic Trials champion; 2008 World Athletics Final champ; 4^th at 2008 Olympic Games; 2003 USA Indoor champion; runner-up at 2003 USA Outdoors; 3rd at 2002 USA Indoors; 2004 Olympian

Miles qualified for his second Olympic Team and captured his first ever national outdoor title with his win at the 2008 Olympic Trials. With a clearance of 5.70m/18-8.25 at the Olympic Games, Miles equaled the third-place height, but ended up in fourth place because he had one miss at that height, while bronze medalist Denys Yurchenko of the Ukraine cleared it on his first attempt. Then on September 7, in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital in a promotional competition for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany in 2009, Miles soared over a personal best equaling height of 5.85m/19-2.50. A week later Miles was crowned the World Athletics Final winner  with a 5.80m/19.0.25 clearance in Stuttgart. “This year I've sorted something out technically that is making a considerable difference,” Miles told the IAAF website. “If I can continue to develop that and make it a permanent fixture in my Pole Vault that even at my age I can jump higher. You learn something new on the technical side and it is helping me jump higher.” Miles won his first U.S. title at the 2003 Indoor Championships, and was the top U.S. finisher at the World Outdoor Championships later that summer. He built on that momentum to make his first Olympic Team in 2004. The NCAA Division II runner-up as a senior at the University of South Dakota, Miles was a four-time All-American as a collegian. While at USD, Miles also competed in the hurdles, long jump and as a decathlete favorite hobby is paragliding, an activity he learned from fellow pole vaulter and training partner Tye Harvey…undergraduate degree in history and a masters degree in athletic administration…married Tori Devericks in May 2004.

6/24/09