Cody Miller
Cody Miller is one of the world’s top breaststroke and IM specialist. He grew up in Las Vegas, and attended Indiana University.
Personal and Youth Swimming
Cody Miller was born January 9, 1992 to mother Debra Miller in Billings, Montana. Later in his life, Miller and his family moved from Montana to Las Vegas, Nevada. Miller started his swimming career for a different reason than most. Due to a medical condition called Pectus Excavatum (essentially a very sunk-in chest) Miller started swimming to monitor his heart and his breathing. The benefits of swimming are endless!
It turned out that Miller was a natural, having success early on in his career. As a member of the Sandpipers of Nevada Swim Club, Miller broke the National Age Group records for boys 15-16 year old 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. These records have since then been broken. Miller also competed at the national, and occasionally international, level as a Junior swimmer qualifying for meets like World Championship Trials, Olympic Trials, US Open, and Junior Nationals, and earning himself a spot on the US National Junior team in 2009.
College Swimming
Graduating from Palo Verde High School in Nevada, Miller committed to Indiana University to swim under head coach Ray Looze and earn his undergraduate degree in Business Management.
2010-2011
Right away his freshman year, Miller made a significant impact on Indiana. At the 2011 Big Ten Championships, Miller won a pair of Big Ten titles in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. He qualified himself for an opportunity to race at the NCAA Championships a month later where Miller earned two All-American Honorable Mentions for his 16th place 200-yard medley relay and his 10th place 200-yard breaststroke (1:55.01). Miller also competed in the 100-yard breaststroke where he finished 28th with a 54.17.
2011-2012
Miller’s sophomore year, he won his second straight Big Ten title in the 100-yard breaststroke (52.34) and the 200-yard breaststroke (1:54.07). His 52.34 100-yard breaststroke was an Indiana school record and his 1:54.07 200-yard breaststroke was the second fastest time in school history. Miller also finished fourth in the 200-yard IM a time of 1:44.81. His performances earned him First Team All-Big Ten honors. At the 2012 NCAA Championships, Miller earned All-American Honors finishing seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 52.82. He also earned four All-American Honorable Mention honors by finishing ninth in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:54.45), 10th in the 200-yard IM (1:44.02-school record), 13th in the 400-yard medley relay (3:11.07), and 13th in the 200-medley relay (1:27.54).
2012-2013
At the 2013 Big Ten Championships, Miller’s junior year, he won his third-straight Big Ten titles in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. He is the third swimmer in Big Ten history to win three-straight 100-yard breaststroke titles and the 10th swimmer in Big Ten history to win three-straight 200-yard breaststroke titles. Miller was 51.50 in the 100 and 1:51.03 in the 200, both Big Ten records. Miller’s 1:51.03 200-yard breaststroke makes him the second-fastest individual in collegiate history! Miller also won the Big Ten title in his third individual event, the 200-yard IM with a Big Ten meet record and school record time of 1:41.85. Miller received first-team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Swimmer of the Championship honors. At the 2013 NCAA Championships, Miller earned two All-American honors with his third place, 1:41.99 200-yard IM and his fourth place 1:53.29 200-yard breaststroke. He also earned two All-American Honorable Mention honors for Indiana’s 14th place 200-yard medley relay and their ninth place 400-yard medley relay. Although Miller qualified for the A-final of the 100-yard breaststroke, he unfortunately was disqualified in the finals for an illegal kick. Miller finished his junior year with Academic All-Big Ten honors.
2013-2014
In his final season as a Hoosier, Miller was the 2014 Big Ten Champion in the 200-yard breaststroke with a final time of 1:53.78. At the Big Ten Championships Miller also grabbed fourth in the 200-yard medley relay (1:25.49), fifth in the 200-yard individual medley (1:43.74), third in the 400-yard medley relay (3:07.98), fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:19.65), second in the 100-yard breaststroke (51.99), and sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (2:54.07). Miller went on to the NCAA Championships a month later where his weekend was highlighted by a second place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke close behind American Record Holder Kevin Cordes. Miller also finished sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke (52.09) and 10th in the 200-yard individual medley.
National and International Swimming
In 2008, Miller won gold in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke at the 2008 Junior National Short Course Championships. He went on to swim at the 2008 National Short Course Championships where he finished sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke. That year, Miller also qualified to compete in the 200-meter IM at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The following year, Miller earned himself a spot on the 2009-2010 US Junior National Team . As a junior national team member, Miller competed at the World Cup in Berlin and in Stockholm. Miller also qualified for the 2009 Long Course Junior Nationals where he finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke. That year, Miller qualified for the 2009 World Championship Trials where he finished 18th in the 200-meter breaststroke with a final time of 2:18.60.
In 2012, Miller not only qualified for his second US Olympic Trials, but he advanced to the championship final of the 200-meter IM and took seventh place with a time of 2:00.90. Miller also made the semifinal for the 200-meter breaststroke where he finished with a time of 2:13.43. He was also 44th in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:03.36.
Miller continued to excel through his college career, and he earned the opportunity to compete for Team USA at the 2013 World University Games. Miller finished seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter breaststroke. He also competed in the 50-meter breaststroke and the prelims for the 400-meter medley relay that qualified for finals and finished with a bronze medal.
Miller’s phenomenal performances in 2013 earned him a spot on the 2013-2014 US National Team as a 100 and 200 breaststroker. He qualified to represent team USA at the 2013 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool. At the Duel in the Pool, Miller finished seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke (59.15) and sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:05.40). Miller’s phenomenal senior year turned in to a phenomenal summer. At the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships Miller swam to a first place, 59.91 100-meter breaststroke. He was the only male under 1:00. Additionally, Miller finished sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke with a final time of 2:11.41. His swims led him to his second consecutive US National Team as a 100 and 200 breaststroker. Miller qualified for the 2014 Pan-Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia where he placed ninth in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:00.76) and 11th in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:13.40).
At the American Energy Swim Club Pro-Am meet in Edmond, Okla. Miller broke the American and U.S. Open Records in the 50 yard breaststroke. At the 2015 FINA World Championships Miller just missed out on a spot in the finals in the 100 meter breaststroke. He finished 9th in 59.86.
2016 U.S Olympic Trials
After finishing 2nd in the 100 breaststroke at the trials, Miller gained his selection for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He finished 8 hundredths of a second behind Kevin Cordes in 59.26.
2016 Rio Olympics
In the 100 meter breaststroke, Miller took the bronze medal in a new American record of 58.87. He turned at the halfway point in 5th but turned on the heat down the home stretch to finish third. His country mate, Kevin Cordes finished fourth in 58.22.
His bronze in the individual earned Miller a spot on the 4×100 meter medley relay. Along with his teammates, Ryan Murphy, Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian, Team USA broke the Olympic Record in 3:27.95 to take the gold. Miller took over from Murphy who stormed out ahead, but Murphy was up against the 100 breaststroke World Record holder and Olympic Champion, Adam Peaty. Miller managed to stay up close to Peaty to touch second. Phelps regained the lead and Adrian held on to claim the last swimming gold medal of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
2017 U.S. World Trials
Miller qualified for the World Championships in Budapest with a silver medal in the 100 meter breaststroke, behind Olympic teammate, Kevin Cordes. He also added a bronze medal in the 50 meter breaststroke.
2017 World Championships
On day two in Budapest, Miller was in action in the 100 meter breaststroke. After qualifying 3rd for the final he missed out on the medals coming in fifth in the final, touching in 59.11.
On the final day Miller won a gold medal for his heat swim in the 4×100 meter medley relay. He was joined by Ryan Murphy, Tim Phillips and Townley Haas to qualify Team USA into the final seeded first. Matt Grevers, Kevin Cordes, Caeleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian took the gold in the final.
2017 Winter National Championships
Miller had a strong meet in Columbus, Ohio where he swam a 1:49.31 in the 200 breaststroke which broke Kevin Cordes’ Championship Record by 1.42 seconds. He also placed second in the 100 breaststroke behind Nicolas Fink who beat him by 0.18 seconds with the time of 50.80.
Cody Miller Vlog
In October of 2017, Cody Miller launched the Cody Miller Adventures vlog on his YouTube page, the first episode of which documented a normal day in the olympic champions life. Since then, the vlog has become wildly popular in the swimming community, garnering Miller’s youtube page over 42,000 subscribers to date. Cody uses the vlog as a platform to talk with his audience about his training, what meets he is attending, his athletic and personal life away from the pool, and how he deals with problems and conflicts that may arise both in and out swimming.
2018 Summer National Championships
At the Summer Nationals in Irvine, Miller failed to qualify for the Pan Pac team in 2018 or the world champs team in 2019, finishing 5th in the 100 breaststroke. He later revealed that he had been struggling with a chronic knee injury and would be taking time off for the rest of the summer to deal with it.
Comeback From Injury
After taking the fall of 2018 to recover, Miller steadily got back into normal training and competition, updating fans weekly via his vlog. Miller made a big return to form at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in his home pool of Bloomington, where he registered times of 59.24 in the 100 breast and 2:08.98 in the 200 breast (a lifetime best).
ISL – DC Trident
On June 11, 2019, Cody Miller was announced as a member of the DC Trident ISL team, headed by GM Kaitlin Sandeno.
2019 Pan American Games
Having qualified for the 2019 Pan American Games in 2019, Miller made the most of his opportunity, earning silver in the 100 breast with a time of 59.57. Miller also initially won gold as a part of the mixed 4×100 medley relay, but the relay was ultimately DQ’ed for Miller taking multiple dolphin kicks off of the wall. Miller later addressed this in a vlog.
2023 U.S. International Team Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Miller placed 4th in the 100 breast last night, cracking the 1:00 barrier for the first time in years with a 59.85. Miller, who now typically swims 4-5 times per week as of late, was elated with his swim, emphasizing that not taking swimming as seriously as he did in the past has helped his longevity in the sport.
The swim was part of a major return to form Miller after a few down years. Miller has had two children with his wife Ali and continues to vlog on YouTube. Miller missed the finals in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2021 US Olympic Trials, and last broke a minute at the 2020 US Open, where he went 59.65.
He took an extended 7-month break after last summer’s International Team Trials, raced at the World Cup stop in Indianapolis, and then took another 4 months off before racing at the Pro Swim Series in Ft. Lauderdale in early March. There, he booked a 1:00.12 in finals, which besides securing his trip to a fifth-consecutive Olympic Trials meet in 2024, was .44 seconds better than he was at last year’s International Team Trials. He dropped to a 1:00.04 at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont.
-Originally developed by Elle Meinholz
