Gerry Lindgren
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
March 9, 1946 Spokane, Washington |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track |
| Event(s) | 3000 meters, 5000 meters, 10,000 meters |
| College team | Washington State |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) |
Mile: 4:01.5 2-mile indoor: 8:34.0 3 miles: 12:53.0 6 miles: 27:11.6 |
Gerald ("Gerry") Paul Lindgren (born March 9, 1946 in Spokane, Washington) is an American track and field runner who set many long-standing high school and national records in the United States. In 1965, Lindgren and Billy Mills both broke the world record for the six-mile run when they finished in an extremely rare tie at the AAU National Championships, both running exactly 27:11.6. Lindgren went on to win a record 11 NCAA collegiate championships with Washington State University. He is widely acknowledged to be the greatest high school runner ever.
In 1964, in his senior year at Rogers High School, Lindgren ran 5000 meters in 13 minutes and 44 seconds flat, on a clay track in Compton, CA setting a U.S. high school record for the distance that would remain unbroken for 40 years, until Galen Rupp ran 13:37.91 on July 30, 2004 on a modern synthetic surface in European competition. Among his other records he established that year was his time of 8:40.0 in an indoor 2-mile (3.2 km) race that shattered the previous U.S. national high school mark by an incredible 43 seconds; it was the fastest high school 2-mile (3.2 km) time ever run indoors until February 16, 2013 when Edward Cheserek (age 19) ran 8:39.15 at the Millrose Games. As Cheserek's record was set on a 8-laps to a mile banked track, Lindgren's only slightly slower time is all the more remarkable, as it was run 49 years earlier on a wooden 11-laps to a mile track which is no longer in use because of its tighter turns and inferior results.
Lindgren was coached by Tracy Walters in high school, where Walters was responsible for inspiring Gerry to the heights he reached. In the summer following high school graduation and his historic 13:44 5k, Lindgren ran 200 miles a week for 6 weeks in preparation for the US-USSR meet. After that victory he also set a new teenage record of 13:17.0 for 3 miles while competing in Jamaica, a meet where he ran his mile best of 4:01.5 as well, both on a dirt track. Lindgren's greatest gift was his unending capacity for hard work, as well as his prodigious recuperative powers. Where most runners would have been completely broken by the massive mileage amounts Lindgren ran, Gerry thrived on it and only became faster. He inspired a generation to train hard and give everything to the race.
...
Wikipedia