Jan Merrill

Jan Merrill (actually: Janice Melbourne Merrill , after marriage Merrill-Morin ; born June 18, 1956 in New London , Connecticut ) is a former American middle and long-distance runner .

In 1975 she won gold over 1,500 meters at the Pan American Games in Mexico City , and in 1976 she was eighth over the same distance at the Olympic Games in Montreal .

In 1977 she set a world record over 5000 m on July 6th in Ingelheim am Rhein with 15: 37.0 min . At the Cross Country World Championships in 1978 in Glasgow and 1979 in Limerick , she was seventh in the individual ranking and won silver and gold with the team. In 1979 she won gold at the premiere of the 3,000 meter run at the Pan American Games in San Juan .

She finished three more times in the medal ranks at the Cross Country World Championships: in 1980 in Paris she was fifth in the individual classification and won bronze with the team, in 1981 in Madrid she took silver in both the individual and team classification, and in 1983 in Gateshead she contributed with a 13th place to win the title of the US team.

She won national titles twice over 1500 m (1978, 1981), four times over 3000 m (1976–1978, 1984), twice in cross-country running ( 1976, 1977) and once in 15 km road running (1984). In the hall she was twice US champion over 1500 m (1976, 1981) and 3000 m (1976, 1983). As a starter for USC Mainz , she became German champion over 1500 m in 1977 and achieved a championship record with her winning time of 4: 06.5 min, which was only beaten 40 years later by Konstanze Klosterhalfen .

Jan Merrill was trained by former marathon runner Norm Higgins . She is currently an assistant coach on the Rutgers University athletics team .

Personal bests

• 1000 m : 2: 39.3 min, July 12, 1976, Montreal
  • Hall: 2: 42.2 min, January 11, 1976, New London
• 1500 m: 4: 02.61 min, July 29, 1976, Montreal
• 1 mile : 4:28.23 min, June 30, 1979, Philadelphia
  • 4: 33.4 min, Feb 10, 1984, Inglewood
• 2000 m : 5: 49.3 min, July 14th 1976, Montreal
• 3000 m: 8: 42.6 min, June 27, 1978, Oslo
  • Hall: 8: 57.6 min, March 4, 1978, Montreal
• 5000 m: 15: 30.6 min, March 22nd 1980, Palo Alto

Web links

• She's His Fair Lady , portrait by Anita Verschoth in Sports Illustrated , February 26, 1979
• Jan Merrill in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Footnotes

1. ↑ gbrathletics: United States Championships (Women)
2. ↑ gbrathletics: United States Indoor Championships (Women)
3. ↑ Rutgers Women's Track & Field: Jan Merrill-Morin ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.