Nikolaus Anton "Toni" Merkens (21 June 1912 – 20 June 1944) was a

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from

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and Olympic champion. He represented his native country at the 1936 Summer Olympics in

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, where he won the gold medal in the men's 1000 meter match sprint event.

Racing career

Merkens trained as a bicycle mechanic with Fritz Köthke. In 1933 he won his first German championship in sprint. In 1934, he was able to repeat this success and also won the

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Open Championships and the

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. At the

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he finished fourth. In 1935 he again won the championships in Germany and the UK and the Paris Grand Prix. At the World Championships in

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, he also won the title in the final against

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cyclist

Arie van Vliet Arie Gerrit van Vliet (18 March 1916 – 9 July 2001) was a Dutch sprint cyclist. Between 1934 and 1957, he won 13 medals at world championships, including four gold medals, and set several world records in sprint events, despite the interr ...

2-1. During the first race of the 1936 Olympic final, Merkens clearly interfered with Arie van Vliet, but no foul was called by the officials. Van Vliet also lost the second race of the final and received the silver medal. After a protest by the Dutch team, Merkens, rather than being disqualified, was fined 100 marks. Merkens turned professional immediately after the 1936 Olympics. In 1937 and 1939, he was German Vice Champion in the sprint. In 1940 he was the German champion in stayers, and was Vice Champion in 1941. In 1942 he won the German professional championship in the sprint and was Vice Champion again in the stayers.

World War II

Merkens was drafted into the army in 1942. Merkens was killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

fighting the

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on the Eastern Front. He was struck between the heart and lungs by a shell splinter, and died in a hospital in Wildbad after becoming ill with meningitis.

Commemoration

In the Munich

Olympiapark The Olympiapark (English: Olympic Park) in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, ...

, the road between the main stadium and the velodrome is called Toni-Merkens-Weg (Toni Merkens Way). A memorial stone was erected in 1948 at the velodrome in Cologne.

References

Literature

*Volker Kluge (1997). ''Olympische Sommerspiele. Die Chronik I'', Berlin. *Pascal Sergent, Guy Crasset, Hervé Dauchy (2000). ''Mondial Encyclopedie Cyclisme''. Volume 3 G-P, UCI. {{DEFAULTSORT:Merkens, Toni 1912 births 1944 deaths German male cyclists Olympic cyclists of Germany Cyclists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Germany German Army personnel killed in World War II Cyclists from Cologne Olympic medalists in cycling German track cyclists People from the Rhine Province Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics 20th-century German people Military personnel from Cologne