Long before winning global medals, attending the Paralympic winter games and being nominated for an ESPY award at ESPN’s annual sports award show, Silverthorne’s Zach Miller was a kid living in the Denver area trying to navigate life with a disability.

Miller was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was born in Denver in March of 1999. Like many kids with cerebral palsy, as Miller continued to grow and navigate adolescence, it became more apparent that he was different than his classmates.

When he was in the fourth grade, Miller started to not only face physical challenges, but for the first time realized there were some societal difficulties that come with having a disability like cerebral palsy. 

“It was always pretty difficult for me,” Miller said of the societal challenges. “My classmates didn’t really understand. I looked normal, but I just didn’t act normal. I wasn’t normal. It was difficult for me.”

Around the same time that Miller was battling the challenges of cerebral palsy, he was introduced to the sport of snowboarding for the first time. It was after a few runs at Winter Park Resort in nearby Grand County that Miller fell in love with the sport and realized that the multiple layers of rental gear gave him a level of anonymity while out on the slopes.

“I think that was the part that I kind of enjoyed about it the most — the anonymity of it,” Miller said. “No one can tell who you are out there. I fell in love with the freedom of it and how it kind of hid my identity a little bit.”

Miller honed his snowboarding skills over the next few years until he met Daniel Gale of Adaptive Action Sports when he was 13. The meeting between Gale and Miller ultimately ignited a fire within him to fully pursue snowboarding as a sport going forward. 

“I decided I really wanted to really pursue snowboarding in 2014,” Miller said. “That was the first year that snowboarding was included in the Paralympic games. I decided I wanted to be a part of it and pursue snowboarding full time. 

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Miller dedicated himself to the sport from that moment on, but he did not see the success he expected for himself until several years later. In fact, at the end 2017-18 winter competition season — after narrowly missing the 2018 U.S. Paralympic team — Miller found himself at a crossroads where he was second guessing if he made the right decision.

“I remember that season ending with heartbreak,” Miller said. “I am now 19 years old, and I haven’t gotten to the Paralympic games and still have everything to prove. I am also at a stage in my life where I kind of need to make a decision of what I need to do with the rest of my life.”

Miller went into the weeklong national competition at Copper Mountain Resort mentally checked out, but he was focused on blowing off a little bit of steam at the end of a disappointing 2017-18 season. 

It was during the national competition that Miller rediscovered the reason he fell in love with the sport in the first place as well as a formula toward success in the future.

“It is not so much about the results or being on the U.S. team or going to the Paralympic games,” Miller said. “That is not why I started snowboarding. That is not why I love it so much. I love it so much because it is the coolest thing to do. I would rather be out here snowboarding than doing anything else.”

With a more laid back and relaxed mindset guiding him in training and competitions, Miller got his first taste of success in 2019 when he attended his first world championships and earned a bronze medal in snowboardcross. 

After attending the 2019 world championships, Miller made his second world championship team in 2021 where he secured his second world championship medal by striking gold in the dual banked slalom.

The gold medal in 2021 was all the motivation Miller needed to continue to keep pushing in training while back home in Summit County. It led to Miller making his Paralympic Winter Games debut in 2022 when he placed 11th in snowboardcross and 15th in banked slalom.

Miller then went on to attend his third world championships this past winter in Georgia where the 24-year-old received a gold, silver and bronze medal.

The string of medals and success over the last five years has led Miller to be nominated by ESPN for the  “Best Athlete with a Disability” award at their 2023 ESPYS award show. 

Alongside other nominees in other categories like Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen and fellow snowsport athlete Mikaela Shiffrin, Miller was shocked to find out about his nomination and can’t believe he will be attending an award show in Los Angeles next to some of his biggest idols.

“I have set alarms on my phone to go watch these people compete, and my name is on the same list as them,” Miller said. “I am a little starstruck at the moment. I am freaking out and trying to stay calm. Just keep doing my laundry and pretending that it is all good. Whether I win an ESPY or not, it is a huge honor. Something I am definitely going to be proud of until the day I die.”

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In the few days since the nominations were announced to the public, Miller has had a few days to reflect on his story as an adaptive snowboarder and journey with cerebral palsy. With the nomination, medals and other accolades to his name, Miller has realized that snowboarding has shifted from being a means to hide his identity to being something that adds value to it. 

“Now I realize snowboarding is no longer something that hides my identity, but something that adds to it,” Miller said. “That is something that I am really proud of because it has taught me a really important lesson in being proud of who you are and to lean into it.”

Miller is up against sled hockey player Erica McKee, wheelchair racer and cross-country skier Aaron Pike and wheelchair racer Susannah Scaroni for the Best Athlete with a Disability award. 

Voting for this year’s ESPYS will be open until Sunday, July 9, at 6 p.m. Mountain Time. To cast a vote, visit ESPN.com. The 2023 ESPYS award show will air on ABC at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday, July 12 at 6 p.m.