Louis Mettling

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Louis Mettling Road cycling
Louis Mettling (1906/07)
Louis Mettling (1906/07)
To person
Date of birth December 3, 1884
date of death June 21, 1907
nation United StatesUnited States United States
discipline Train (endurance)
Last updated: March 18, 2017

Louis Mettling (born December 3, 1884 in Boston , † June 21, 1907 in Dresden ) was an American track cyclist .

At the age of eleven, Louis Mettling started in road races at the Elkes Bicycle Club , but in 1899 he turned to track cycling. The following year, he and two other drivers (Kimball and McKinnon) became American team driving champions. In 1901 he was the best amateur in the USA and became national champion in endurance driving at the age of 17.

Mettling came from a poor background, but was considered very educated; so he spoke several languages ​​fluently. He wanted to use the income from cycling to finance a degree. His driving style is described as elegant, carried by "iron energy" and "great physical strength".

In 1902 Louis Mettling turned professional . He suffered a severe fractured skull in a fall while training and was bedridden for four months.

French managers brought Mettling to Paris in 1905 and marketed him as a Roxbury schoolboy . After initial difficulties, he was able to beat the best French drivers and set records over 10 to 50 kilometers. He was less successful at races in Germany, but where he returned to race in the spring of 1907, after he had started in the USA in 1906 in six-day races. Then he wanted to say goodbye to professional cycling because he had enough money for his studies.

Funeral procession for Mettling at the Johannisfriedhof in Dresden

On June 9, 1907, Mettling started at the Dresden City Prize for his compatriot Robert Walthour, who was in a coma after a serious fall . Since his own bike was accidentally sent to Hanover , he had to borrow one. Shortly before the end, on lap 132, he was leading by nine laps when he crashed. He lost consciousness for a moment and was diagnosed with a slight fracture of the skull. Mettling refused to stay in the hospital, nor did he follow the doctors' advice to keep quiet. Two weeks later, Louis Mettling died unexpectedly at the age of 22 as a result of the effects of the fall in his sleep. On June 22nd, his parents received a telegram from Mettling's companion, the bicycle artist “Daredevil” Schreyer , with the message: “Our dear Louis died peacefully while sleeping last night. Cable wishes regarding burial. "

Louis Mettling was buried in Dresden at the Johannisfriedhof in Tolkewitz . The pacemaker Josef Schwarzer , who had led Mettling in Dresden, died the following year in a fall on the Düsseldorf Velodrome.

Web links

Commons : Louis Mettling  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sport-Album der Rad-Welt 1907. 6th year, Berlin 1908, p. 51.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Portraits: Veterans: Mettling, Louis. In: Cycling4Fans -. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  3. ^ A b The Daily Record , June 26, 1907, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Andrw M. Homan: Life in the Slipstream. The Legend of Bobby Walthour sr. Potomac Books, Washington DC 2011, pp. 190 .
personal data
SURNAME Mettling, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American track cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1907
Place of death Dresden