This months Drake Relays will be the final one for pole vaulter Derek Miles. The 39-year-old three time U.S. champion will make one more attempt to qualify for the Olympics before calling it a career.
Miles says unless he goes out and wins an Olympic medal, then this will be his farewell tour in the sport. Miles was a four-time NCAA champion at South Dakota and says he wants to end his career while he is still competitive at an international level.
“I still have the same expectations of myself that did five or six years ago, and for me, that is the hardest part,” Miles says. He says it’s hard the older you get to run as fast as you need to and jump as high, but says if he felt he couldn’t still compete he wouldn’t be out there.
Miles says he still feels like he has something to prove. “I’m still chasing the height,” Miles says. He says he’d really like to end his career with an Olympic medal, but he will focused on just making the team.
Miles was the U.S. champion in 2011.