Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint was one of the five track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. It was held on 11 April as the second event on the schedule. It was held over the distance of 2 kilometres, or six laps of the track. The event was won by Paul Masson of France, with his teammate Léon Flameng earning bronze. Stamatios Nikolopoulos of Greece took silver

Men's sprint
at the Games of the I Olympiad
The French medalists Flameng and Masson
VenueNeo Phaliron Velodrome
Date11 April 1896
Competitors4 from 3 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paul Masson
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Stamatios Nikolopoulos
 Greece
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Léon Flameng
 France
1900 →

Background

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This was the first appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912.[1]

Competition format

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The event featured a single race, with all four competitors starting together. The distance was 2 kilometres, or six laps around the 13 kilometre track.[1][2]

Schedule

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The exact time of the event is not known; the cycling events began shortly after 2 p.m. and the sprint was the first event.

Date Time Round
Gregorian Julian
Saturday, 11 April 1896 Saturday, 30 March 1896 Final

Results

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The race was very slow and tactical, with no pacemakers: Rosemeyer was forced to retire after having mechanical problems.

Masson broke away late to beat Nikolopoulos by 15 meters, and Flameng finished well back in third.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Paul Masson   France 4:58.2
  Stamatios Nikolopoulos   Greece 5:00.2
  Léon Flameng   France Unknown
Joseph Rosemeyer   Germany DNF

References

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  1. ^ a b "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 98.