Is Christian Miller the Future of American Sprinting?

At the high school level, we have seen great sprinters dominate through the years. Believe it or not, by the time you hit your senior year, we have a pretty good idea of who will be battling for spots on team USA in the future. To be honest with you, if fast sprinters are really what you want, Florida is perhaps the only state you need to consider. It’s the reason why Trayvon Bromell dropped the fastest boys 100 meter time in the nation. That was one year before winning the NCAA championship in 2014, as a freshman in that same event. He then went on to the World Junior Championships, and lost to Kendal Williams, who was actually a high school senior himself from the state of Florida. That year he was not even technically the top sprint recruit even in the state of Florida! That would be Trentavis Friday who was also a high school senior and won the World Junior Championship in the 200 meter dash that season.

From then until now, Florida based high schools produced Jaylen Slade, Issam Asinga, and of course Erriyon Knighton. All of which were the fastest boys in high school when they competed. So it should come as no surprise that right now the fastest boy in high school, and the number 1 sprint recruit in the class of 2024 is Christian Miller from the state of Florida.

The truth is that Christian Miller is a true 5 star recruit, whom nobody really saw coming 4 years ago. That’s because at the end of his freshman year he wasn’t yet at the top of anyone’s recruiting board. Although he shares a lot of similarity with the great Florida sprinters of the past, he is starting to look even more like another great sprinter, Noah Lyles. And now he has a chance to not only dominate the junior level for one more season, but also put the NCAA on notice. Thanks to Trayvon we know that a freshman can win it all in the 100 meter dash, and Christian has as good a chance as any to pull it off. 

How did Christian Miller become the nation’s top sprinting recruit?

Christian Miller is the best sprint recruit in his class and it is not really up for debate anymore. As someone who ranks recruits all across the nation in every event, to determine who is really the best, it is pretty clear that everyone who evaluates talent is pretty much seeing the same thing. Entering 2024, Christian was the only sprinter in his class to break 10.1 in the 100 meter dash. He was technically second overall in the 200 meter dash. But he also won the 200 meter dash at the New Balance National meet in 2023. However, his journey to become a true 5 star recruit was nowhere near as easy as one might think.

As a freshman in 2021, the only recorded times you can dig up online would have only ranked him as a 1 star level recruit. The times he ran were a huge improvement from his middle school performances, so there was no reason to expect he would go from that level to what he became. Yet as a sophomore he took off literally, jumping from essentially unranked to what would have already been a 5 star level recruit on SCArecruiting.com for his performances in the 200 meter dash. He had already broken the 21 second barrier by that point, and won the state championship in Florida.

To be clear almost nobody ever gets that fast that quickly in high school. High school boys do develop a lot across those 4 years, but that normally doesn’t take you from even 2 star level to 4 star level overnight. By the end of his junior year he was the fastest high school boy in the class of 2024 in the 100 meter dash. The only loss he took that entire year in either event individually was technically at the Florida Relays. But that was to class of 2023 recruit Issam Asinga, who is now the high school national record holder in the 100 meter dash. He even won the New Balance meet in the 200 to make it clear that if you want to win anything as a junior you now have to go through him.

Is Christian Miller the next great American sprinter?

All of that brings us to the season we are witnessing right now. Christian committed to the Georgia Bulldogs, who arguably have the best recruiting class in the NCAA for 2024. They even signed recruits 2, 3, and 4 from the SCA top 10. Even though Christian is the best short sprinter, they arguably have the best long sprinter, and the best combo hurdler and jumper. When the outdoor season finally started in 2024, Christian took it upon himself to remind the nation just how fast he is, by opening the season at the Bob Hayes Invitational, and running 20.51 seconds! Almost nobody in the nation can run that fast, and those who can, likely won’t do it until months later at their State Championship weekend. Jordan Ware is the fastest freshman in the 200 meter dash right now in the NCAA, and he never ran as fast as 20.5 for his entire high school career!

It is unclear what the future of Christian Miller’s career will look like. But I do know what is supposed to happen. He is the  fastest high school boy, not just for his class anymore, but officially in the entire nation. It’s a title he walked into 2024 already wearing, along with the target on his back that comes with it. The only way to beat him is to catch up with him. And the boys in Florida have been doing this for a while now. Since almost nobody around appears to be able to keep up with him, he might as well set his sights even higher. Because winning the state championship is no longer the goal, that is actually the expectation. Yet the NCAA has a whole bunch of fast men, and his career from here on out is all about how fast he can keep up with all of them. Which is fine because the clock is already keeping track of how close he is to the front of the race.

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