Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 20 kilometres

The men's 20 kilometres was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the second longest of the individual event distances. Each nation could enter up to 12 cyclists.[1]

Men's 20 kilometres
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DateJuly 14
Competitors44 from 10 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Clarence Kingsbury  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Benjamin Jones  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Joseph Werbrouck  Belgium

Competition format

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The 20 kilometres in 1908 was a unique race in Olympic history. It was in some ways like a very long sprint but with elements of a points race. Each race consisted of slightly over 33 laps of the 660 yard track. The time limit for the race was 40 minutes. The competition was held in two rounds (semifinals and a final). There were 6 semifinals. The winner of each semifinal advanced to the final, encouraging tactical riding similar to a sprint race despite the long distance. However, for the three fastest semifinals, the cyclist who led for the most laps would also advance. The final comprised 9 cyclists.

Results

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Semifinals

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There were two methods of qualifying for the final. A cyclist could either finish first in one of the six semifinals or be the leader "of the greatest number of laps in the three fastest heats.[2]"

Semifinal 1

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Flynn had a puncture at about the halfway mark.[3]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Leon Meredith   Great Britain 33:21.0 Q
2 Hermann Martens   Germany 33:21.2
3 Joseph Werbrouck   Belgium 33:21.4 q
4 André Lapize   France Unknown
5 Georgius Damen   Netherlands Unknown
6 Frederick McCarthy   Canada Unknown
7–8 Pierre Hostein   France Unknown
Rudolf Katzer   Germany Unknown
Daniel Flynn   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Clarence Kingsbury   Great Britain 32:33.8 Q
2 Charlie Brooks   Great Britain 32:34.0
3 Floris Venter   South Africa 32:34.4
4 Georges Lutz   France Unknown
5 Gerard Bosch van Drakenstein   Netherlands Unknown
6 François Bonnet   France Unknown q
7–9 Walter Andrews   Canada Unknown
Jean van Benthem   Belgium Unknown
Paul Schulze   Germany Unknown

Semifinal 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Louis Weintz   United States 33:39.8 Q
2 Frank Shore   South Africa 33:40.0
3 Harry Young   Canada 33:45.2
4 Herbert Bouffler   Great Britain Unknown
5 Max Triebsch   Germany Unknown
6–7 Henri Cunault   France Unknown
Dorus Nijland   Netherlands Unknown
Frederick Hamlin   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benjamin Jones   Great Britain 32:39.0 Q
2 George Cameron   United States 32:39.2
3 Thomas Passmore   South Africa 32:39.4
4 Octave Lapize   France Unknown q
5 Henri Baumler   France Unknown
6–7 Alwin Boldt   Germany Unknown
Johannes van Spengen   Netherlands Unknown
William Lower   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 5

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Santorinaios and Texier crashed with half a lap remaining; Robertson was slowed by having to ride around them.[4]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Andrew Hansson   Sweden 34:53.6 Q
2 David Robertson   Great Britain 34:53.8
3 William Anderson   Canada 34:55.6
Ioannis Santorinaios   Greece DNF
Pierre Texier   France DNF

Semifinal 6

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"With nine laps to go, Coeckelberg's tyre punctured, and two laps further on the Belgian was again unlucky. He left the track, cut across the grass, seized another machine, and remounted, but was disqualified."[4]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Albert Denny   Great Britain 33:40.6 Q
2 Charles Avrillon   France 33:40.8
3 Gustaf Westerberg   Sweden 33:41.4
4 Guglielmo Morisetti   Italy Unknown
Léon Couckelberg   Belgium DSQ

Final

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Meredith and Denny suffered punctures early on. Hansson fell near the end. Bonnet led most of the first half of the race. Kingsbury started his sprint shortly after the bell, "hotly challenged" by Jones, Werbrouck, and Weintz for "one of the most exciting finishes of the Games, which Kingsbury just won by three inches."[5]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Clarence Kingsbury   Great Britain 34:13.6
  Benjamin Jones   Great Britain Unknown
  Joseph Werbrouck   Belgium Unknown
4 Louis Weintz   United States Unknown
5–9 François Bonnet   France Unknown
Arthur Denny   Great Britain Unknown
Andrew Hansson   Sweden Unknown
Octave Lapize   France Unknown
Leon Meredith   Great Britain Unknown

Notes

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  1. ^ Official Report, p. 33.
  2. ^ Olympic Report, p. 120
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 118.
  4. ^ a b Official Report, p. 119.
  5. ^ Official Report, p. 120.

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Cycling 1908". Accessed 7 April 2006. Available electronically at [1] Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine.