18-year-old Christian Miller named Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year after stellar performance at the US Olympic trials

Christian Miller has been recently named the Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year after his exploits at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Miller featured in the men’s 100m at the trials at Hayward Field in Eugene. Regarded as one of the most promising United States' track athletes, he had a sensational outing at the U.S. Olympic Trials where he ran a brilliant 9.98s to finish fifth in the finals of the 100m event.

Although Miller missed out on a spot in the individual 100m for the Paris Olympics, his fifth-place finish can still earn him a spot in the USA’s 4x100m relay team for the Quadrennial Games.

Recently, Gatorade, on their Instagram handle, shared the news of Christian Miller winning the Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year.

“He’s ahead of the pack 🏃️ Keep up with @c_millly, the 2024 Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year," they wrote in the caption.

Following being presented the award by his father Griffin Miller at the Creekside High School, the 18-year-old said (shared by Marcel Robinson from Action News Jacksonville on IG):

“It's great, it's definitely a blessing from God for me, I just came back from the Olympic trials so I had no clue. I thought I was just going to come out here and give some inspiring words to the kids, but I got a great surprise from everybody in the Irish community, it was just amazing.”

Christian Miller added:

“This stays pretty high knowing that out of everybody in the nation, out of every track and field boys athlete out there, they chose me to award this to based off of all the things I did throughout this year. It was honestly just amazing to me, I wasn't really expecting it, but I'm grateful that they chose me and I'm excited to see what that leaves me next.”

A look into Christian Miller’s 2024 season

Christian Miller made headlines at the 2024 PURE Athletics Elite Invitational where he clocked a remarkable time of 9.93s to achieve a new world-leading time in the 100m on April 20. The performance by him was also an American U20 record and the timing remained a world-lead performance till June 1.

He went on to clock below the 10.00s mark in the 100m once again during the semifinal of the New Balance Nationals Outdoors, with a timing of 9.95s (+1.2) to place first on June 14, just before the Olympic trials.

He also participated in the men's 200m at the PURE Athletics Sprint Elite Meet and The HBCU Pro Classic where he clocked 20.15s and 20.54s, respectively, to place second in both meets.