Miller wins regional arm wrestling tourney
Todd Miller, left, grips up with a former world champion during a recent training session in Tacoma, Wash. Miller is striving to become one of the top armwrestlers in his weight class in the U.S. (Courtesy photo)
SANDPOINT — Four years removed from having a 20-ton chunk of granite crush his legs in an excavation accident, Vay resident Todd Miller is now doing some crushing of his own — as in crushing his opponent’s hand down in armwrestling competitions.
Last weekend at the Irish Games in Pasco, Wash., Miller went a perfect 12-0 to win his weight class (176-198), winning titles both left- and right-handed. He’s climbed into the upper echelon of the sport, which has been one of his passions lately, helping put a would-be life-altering event in his rear-view mirror.
“All that is behind me,” says Miller of the accident, noting he’s finally employed again and moving forward, but that it remains part of who he is. “I still think about it every day; walking up and down the stairs reminds me of it.”
While his legs bare the scars of many surgeries and bend where most legs shouldn’t, his forearms and upper body are stronger than ever, thanks in part to a fierce training regimen this year, his appetite whet from competing at the World Armwrestling Championships in British Columbia last winter.
Miller, one of 45 members of the United States Armwrestling Federation, finished 14th in the world out of 21 in his weight class, in an event featuring more than 1,100 armwrestlers from all over the world. Part of the result stemmed from drawing the eventual champion from Slovakia in the first round.
“If not for my first round, I definitely would have been in the top 10, but somebody had to face him,” says Millers with a laugh. “It would have taken both of my arms to beat him.”
Miller, 32, has proven to be a quick study, and he’s hoping to return to the World Championships in Venice, Italy, later this year a much improved armwrestler.
In Pasco last weekend, he won one of the featured matches of the 106-person tournament, winning three out of five in a heated “challenge match” against Portland’s George Weaver, who e-mailed him with the challenge after handling Miller last year.
“He’s been my nemesis,” explains Miller. “It was one of the highlights of the tournament; a lot of people wanted to see it.”
Miller also handily beat an opponent from Utah whom he’d lost to last year, as hours of dedicated training are beginning to pay off.
“I’ve made some leaps and bounds,” he says. “I’ve been training, training, training; that’s the difference. I train to keep endurance, which helps me through the tourney.”
He admits he came back from the Worlds in Canada with his tail between his legs, realizing that for many countries armwrestling isn’t just a hobby, but a national sport. Should he qualify for the Worlds again this year, he’ll not only know what to expect, but he’ll be boasting far superior strength and technique than the first time around.
Right now his attention is on a national tournament in Lake Tahoe in May, where he hopes to claim another title and boost his status on the U.S. team.
Miller wishes to thank Kelly’s Vay Mart, which hosted a spaghetti feed last fall to help raise money for his traveling expenses. He set up a practice table and took on all comers, ultimately raising more than $900, which helped make the trip to Canada possible.
A YouTube search for “Todd Miller armwrestling” shows a couple clips of him from the Irish games.