Manfred Merkel (born 3 November 1938) is a retired East German slalom canoeist. Merkel was born in 1938 in Meuselwitz. He competed from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. He won seven gold medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships (C-2: 1961, 1963, 1965; C-2 team: 1961, 1963, 1967; Mixed C-2: 1959).