Mervyn George "Merv" Lincoln (22 November 19331 May 2016) was an Australian

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

who won a silver medal in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...

at the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...

and twice competed in the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

Career

Merv Lincoln was born in

Leongatha Leongatha () is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo In ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and raised in

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

, where for many years in his honour there has been a Lincoln Causeway adjacent to the Hume Freeway.Peter de Kruijff
"Wodonga 1950s one-mile track star Merv Lincoln dies aged 82 in Melbourne"
''The Border Mail'', 3 May 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016 He qualified for the 1500 metres final at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, finishing 12th. He was tipped as a potential successor to the retiring

John Landy John Michael Landy (12 April 1930 – 24 February 2022) was an Australian middle-distance runner and state governor. He was the second man to break the four-minute mile barrier in the mile run and held the world records for the 1500-metre run ...

as Australia's leading miler; however, newcomer

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle-distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the r ...

defeated him at the 1957 national championships. Lincoln ran his first four-minute mile on 23 March 1957, the eleventh man in the world and the third Australian to accomplish that feat. His time of 3:58.9 was less than a second short of Landy's

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

of 3:58.0. Despite his loss to Elliott at the Australian championships he did also win a national championship mile that year, winning the United States championship race as an outside competitor. ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

'' ranked him #7 in the world for 1957, one place below his Australian rival Elliott. Lincoln reached his peak in 1958 but was overshadowed by the rapidly improving Elliott. The Australian team of Elliott, Lincoln, and

Albie Thomas Albert George "Albie" Thomas OAM (8 February 1935 – 27 October 2013) was an Australian middle- and long-distance runner who set world records at two miles and three miles. He was born in Hurstville, New South Wales. Career Thomas set a new ...

swept the medals in the mile at the

British Empire and Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Lincoln running 4:01.80 for silver. He set his personal mile best of 3:55.9 in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 6 August 1958, finishing more than a second under

Derek Ibbotson George Derek Ibbotson (17 June 1932 – 23 February 2017) was an English runner who excelled in athletics in the 1950s. His most famous achievement was setting a new world record in the mile in 1957. Biography Ibbotson was born on 17 J ...

's world record of 3:57.2 yet still only being the runner-up as Elliott won in a new record time of 3:54.5. ''Track & Field News'' ranked Lincoln as second in the world that year; however, that proved to be the last time he was ranked among the world's top ten, and at the

1960 Olympics The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 19 ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

he failed to qualify from the heats. He was coached by the Austrian-born Franz Stampfl, a bitter rival of Elliott's coach

Percy Cerutty Percy Wells Cerutty (10 January 189514 August 1975) was an Australian athletics coach in the 1950s and 1960s. The eccentric Australian pioneered a home-spun system of "Stotan" training, embracing a holistic regime of natural diets, hard traini ...

. Stampfl stated Lincoln only trained one hour a day, in contrast to the harder training of Elliott. He died on 1 May 2016, aged 82.In some British sources, the date was incorrectly shown as 30 April.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Merv 1933 births 2016 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Australian male middle-distance runners Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia World record setters in athletics (track and field) Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Olympic athletes for Australia People from Leongatha Sportspeople from Wodonga Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics