Las Vegas’ Cody Miller basks in breaststroke medal, likely not done yet

Before racing in the Olympic 100-meter breaststroke finals in Rio, Las Vegas native Cody Miller shook all of his competitors’ hands.

The Palo Verde High School product proceeded to outrace all but two of them.

Miller, 24, won bronze in his lone individual Olympic event Sunday, setting a personal and American record of 58.87 to finish behind Adam Peaty of Great Britain and Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa. Miller beat fellow American Kevin Cordes, who set the previous U.S. record at the Olympic Trials, by 0.35 seconds to finish third.

“You know, I said over and over again, but it’s a dream come true, honestly,” Miller said in Rio after the event. “You never think this is going to happen until it finally does. I just have a lot of people to thank.”

Miller, a former Sandpipers of Nevada club team star, swam 60,000 meters a week to prepare for the Games. He is only the second swimmer from Nevada to make the Olympics, despite battling a rib deformity known as “pectus excavatum” that affects his breathing and is compounded by mild asthma.

He entered Rio with the fourth-best time of 2016, and set personal records in his heat, semifinal and final. He had the second-best time in the semifinals behind Peaty, allowing him an inside lane in the final.

While he was far behind Peaty’s world record time of 57.13, he had an inside edge to medal in a competitive field.

“To be in a heat like that, that was no doubt probably the fastest heat of 100 breaststrokers ever. That heat was stacked,” Miller said in Rio after the final. “And for me to get my hand on the wall and win a medal for my country, I can’t describe how that feels.”

Miller also competed with the Sandpipers of Nevada club. Sandpipers coach Chris Barber said prior to the games that this was the moment that Miller had been preparing for since he was 11.

“You just don’t get on a roller coaster and ride right up to a world record. There are going to be ups and downs,” Barber said. “Like turning 11 when you’re swimming against older kids. Your competitors grow three inches and they’re bigger and stronger, and you’re swimming against a kid who’s almost 13.

“You have to keep yourself grounded and move forward. He saw tougher times when he wasn’t No. 1 and he wasn’t winning the race. He was able to create a toughness inside.”

While Miller is done competing as an individual, he is expected to race for the U.S. in the men’s 400-meter medley relay. He and Cordes are expected to get one race each, with one swimming the Americans’ heat Friday and the other swimming the final Saturday.

Miller’s superior finish in the individual finals may convince the U.S. coaches to save him for last. The Americans are the gold medal favorites in the medley.

Reporter Keith Rogers contributed to this report. Ben Gotz can be reached at bgotz@reviewjournal.com