The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

QUARTER-miler Ramon Miller is slowly working his way back to form.

For the past month, he has been doing progressive therapy on the ligament in his left foot that he injured during warm-up for the heats of the men’s 4 x 400 metres at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in April.

“It’s been real good. I’ve been making real progress,” he insisted. “I hope to start training in the next month, November. The World Champs is my goal, so I’m working forward to that.”

When the freak incident happened at the Thomas A Robinson national stadium, Miller was trying to help the Bahamas duplicate their triumph over the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, at home.

“Sometimes it could be real depressing, but I try to see the positive in it,” said Miller. “I haven’t rested this long since 2007 since I’ve been competing for the country. The injury caused me to take off 16 weeks to heal fully before I go back on the track.”

Miller, 27, is the only one of the top four quarter-milers who is based at home in the Bahamas where he trains under the guidance of Tyrone Burrows.

Once he gets back to top shape as he attempts to regain the form that enabled him to win nine NAIA track and field national championships in his four years at Dickinson State University, Miller will be gearing up for his first appearance at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, in August.

He was unable to make the trip to the 2013 championships in Moscow, Russia, because of an injury.

“First I have to get back in shape. I know it’s not going to be an easy road,” he projected.

“I’m prepared to take slow steps towards it and hopefully by the time April-May come around, I will be ready for the World Relays to represent my country again and also prepare for the National Championships, then the World Championships.

“So I have a good amount of work cut out for me this upcoming season.”

With the World Relays coming back to the Bahamas, Miller said he would like nothing better than to line up with his team-mates again to put on a show for the home crowd.

“I know everybody wants to know why I didn’t run the final.

“I tried to explain to them what happened, but they still didn’t give me a break,” he pointed out. “So I just have to come out and do it for the country.”

As he reflects on the injury, Miller said he is still trying to figure out exactly how it happened.

“I was running on my feet all day, every day.

“The amount of pain that I experienced, I wasn’t thinking about it as anything,” he said.

“After I slipped and fell, I said it was only a bruise. I still ran out there and ran the heats. They said I split a 44.3, but after the race I couldn’t walk.

“I didn’t know what was going on. So I tried to play it smart by doing all the necessary stuff like icing it and stretching to try to ease the pin, but the pain wasn’t going anywhere.”

And with so many quarter-milers attempting to knock competitors like Miller off their perch, Miller said he will still be fighting to keep his spot.

He is currently the sixth fastest Bahamian with a personal best of 44.87 seconds from 2012. Only national record holder Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown (44.40), Avard Moncur (44.45), Andretti Bain (44.62), Troy McIntosh (44.73) and Demetrius Pinder (44.77) have run faster.