Faster & Faster

"It would be silly to exhaust yourself in the heats," said Australia's Merv Lincoln after he loafed through a fast 4:07.9 mile to qualify for the National A.A.U. championships at Bakersfield, Calif. Aussie Herb Elliott felt the same way. But Herb Elliott, who at 20 shows every sign of becoming the greatest miler ever, seems constitutionally incapable of not cracking some sort of record every time he puts on his spikes. He breezed through his heat in 4:01.4, a new meet mark.

Next night, both men were really trying. But Elliott, who had spent more energy in the trials, also had more in reserve. With Oklahoma's Gail Hodgson and California's Don Bowden to pace them through the first three quarters, the two Aussies came into the final lap with 3 min. 3.8 sec. gone. It hardly seemed probable that they would crack four minutes. But now that the race belonged to them, they both dug in. They sprinted through the last lap like fresh quarter-milers. Lincoln's fine finishing kick brought him to the finish in 3:58.5. But Herb Elliott's incredible condition brought him home even faster than that. He was timed in 3:57.9, a fleeting tenth of a second faster than Aussie John Landy's listed world's record.

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