| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sathletics | ||
Representing Australia | ||
| Commonwealth Games | ||
 | Cardiff 1958 | One mile |
Mervyn George "Merv" Lincoln (22 November 1933 – 1 May 2016)[1][2][3] was an Australianmiddle-distance runner who won a silver medal in themile run at the1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and twice competed in theSummer Olympic Games.
Merv Lincoln was born inLeongatha,Victoria[1] and raised inWodonga, where for many years in his honour there has been a Lincoln Causeway adjacent to the Hume Freeway.[2]
He qualified for the1500 metres final at the1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne, finishing 12th.[1] He was tipped as a potential successor to the retiringJohn Landy as Australia's leading miler;[4] however, newcomerHerb Elliott defeated him at the 1957 national championships.[5]
Lincoln ran his firstfour-minute mile on 23 March 1957, the eleventh man in the world and the third Australian to accomplish that feat.[6] His time of 3:58.9 was less than a second short of Landy'sworld record of 3:58.0.[7] Despite his loss to Elliott at the Australian championships he did also win a national championship mile that year, winning theUnited States championship race as an outside competitor.[8]Track & Field News ranked him #7 in the world for 1957, one place below his Australian rival Elliott.[9]
Lincoln reached his peak in 1958 but was overshadowed by the rapidly improving Elliott.[10] The Australian team of Elliott, Lincoln, andAlbie Thomas swept the medals in the mile at theBritish Empire and Commonwealth Games inCardiff, Lincoln running 4:01.80 for silver.[11] He set his personal mile best of 3:55.9 inDublin on 6 August 1958,[6] finishing more than a second underDerek Ibbotson'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.[12]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,[9] and at the1960 Olympics inRome he failed to qualify from the heats.[1]
He was coached by theAustrian-bornFranz Stampfl, a bitter rival of Elliott's coachPercy Cerutty.[13] Stampfl stated Lincoln only trained one hour a day, in contrast to the harder training of Elliott.[13]
He died on 1 May 2016, aged 82.[2][14]
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