Paris, France -- For the first time in his career, University of South Dakota graduate Derek Miles has qualified for the finals in the men's pole vault at World Track and Field Championships on Thursday in Paris, France.

Miles, now living in Jonesboro, Ark., and teammate Tim Mack of Knoxville, Tenn., have the opportunity to win medals in the pole vault that will be televised on ESPN. Since the inaugural world outdoor championships were started in 1983, just two American men have medaled in the pole vault. Dean Starkey (1997) and Nick Hysong (2001) earned bronze medals. Miles and Mack both qualified by clearing 5.70 meters (18'08.25) in the prelims.

"I was slow to get going, but it all came together in the end," said Miles in a story on the USA Track and Field web site. "I was a little tentative and a little cautious in the beginning, but after I got on the right poles, things fell into place. It felt good and I feel I could have jumped much higher."

Miles is enjoying his best season on the professional track and field circuit. He is the 2003 USA Indoor championships and runner-up in June at the USA Outdoor Championships. He placed fifth at the 2003 World Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Miles won the pole vault competition at the Millrose Games in New York on Feb. 7, 2003, going 18'8.5 to unseat American record holder Jeff Hartwig as the champion in the event. That was the second major competition that Miles has won this winter. In January 2003, Miles won the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev., for the second straight year. Miles went 5.80m (19-0 1/4) to win the meet on Jan. 20, 2003, defeating Hartwig and the 2001 World Indoor silver medallist Tye Harvey. Hartwig and Harvey both went 5.70m (18-11).

For the past year and half, Miles has trained in Jonesboro, Ark. at the Earl Bell Training Center, with Harvey and Hartwig, under the guidance of former world record holder Earl Bell.

On February 16, 2002, Miles recorded his personal best, going 19-1 1/4 (5.82m) at the John Dalton Memorial Track and Field Meet held at the DakotaDome on the campus of USD. The vault, which established a DakotaDome record, was the second-best indoor mark in the world at that point in the season. It broke Miles' own Dome mark of 18-4 1/2 set in 1999. Miles won the NCC pole vault title in 1996 and finished fifth at the 1996 NCAA Division II indoor meet. He was third at the 1994 NCAA Division II outdoor nationals. He was an alternate on the U.S Olympic Team in 2000.

He earned an undergraduate degree in history and a master's degree in athletic administration at USD. He is employed as an academic adviser at Arkansas State University.