Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint
Men's sprint at the Games of the IV Olympiad | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Maurice Schilles | ||||||||||
Venue | White City Stadium | |||||||||
Date | July 16 | |||||||||
Competitors | 42 from 10 nations | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics | |
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Track cycling![]() | |
660 yards | men |
5000 metres | men |
20 kilometres | men |
100 kilometres | men |
Sprint | men |
Tandem | men |
Team pursuit | men |
The men's 1000 metre sprint was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the second shortest of the individual event distances. Each nation could enter up to 12 cyclists.[1]
Background
This was the third appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the finalists from 1900 returned.[2]
Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden each made their debut in the men's sprint. France and Germany made their third appearance, having competed in both previous editions of the event.
Competition format
The 1000 metre sprint race consisted of approximately 1 2⁄3 laps of the 660 yard track. The time limit for the race was 1 minute and 45 seconds. The competition was conducted in three rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final). The quarterfinals featured 16 heats, with up to 4 cyclists each. The winning cyclist in each heat advanced to the semifinals, provided that the time limit was not exceeded. The semifinal round comprised 4 semifinals, each with 4 cyclists except that 2 were reduced to 3 cyclists because two of the heats had resulted in no winner under the time limit. Again, the winning cyclist in each semifinal advanced to the final.
Records
The records for the sprint are 200 metre flying time trial records, kept for the qualifying round in later Games as well as for the finish of races.
World record | Unknown | Unknown* | Unknown | Unknown |
Olympic record | ![]() |
12.6 | Paris, France | 13 September 1900 |
* World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.
The 200 metre sprint splits were not tracked for this Games, so no new records were set.
Schedule
Date | Time | Round |
---|---|---|
Thursday, 16 July 1908 | 15:00 16:45 17:30 |
Quarterfinals Semifinals Final |
Results
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1
Johnson won by two lengths.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Victor Johnson | ![]() |
1:33.8 | Q |
2 | Gerard Bosch van Drakenstein | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Guglielmo Malatesta | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 2
Poulain was a wheel behind Venter.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Floris Venter | ![]() |
1:33.2 | Q |
2 | André Poulain | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Thomas Matthews | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 3
Hnasson was one length behind Schilles.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Maurice Schilles | ![]() |
1:38.4 | Q |
2 | Andrew Hansson | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 4
Flynn won by two lengths.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Daniel Flynn | ![]() |
1:30.2 | Q |
2 | Pierre Seginaud | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Paul Schulze | ![]() |
Unknown | |
4 | Frederick McCarthy | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 5
Nijland trailed Payne by a length and a half.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ernest Payne | ![]() |
1:32.0 | Q |
2 | Dorus Nijland | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 6
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
— | W. F. Magee | ![]() |
Time limit exceeded | |
Hermann Martens | ![]() |
|||
Johannes van Spengen | ![]() |
Quarterfinal 7
Neumer won by two lengths.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Karl Neumer | ![]() |
1:33.2 | Q |
2 | Richard Villepontoux | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | William Bailey | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 8
Cameron won by two lengths.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | George Cameron | ![]() |
1:29.4 | Q |
2 | Philipus Frylink | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Herbert Crowther | ![]() |
Unknown | |
4 | G. Dreyfus | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 9
Morton was two and a half lengths behind Demangel.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Émile Demangel | ![]() |
1:35.2 | Q |
2 | William Morton | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 10
Auffray was the only starter in the heat.
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | André Auffray | ![]() |
1:23.6 | Q |
Quarterfinal 11
Morisetti was the only starter in the heat.
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Guglielmo Morisetti | ![]() |
1:21.4 | Q |
Quarterfinal 12
Marechal was one length behind Jones.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Benjamin Jones | ![]() |
1:35.0 | Q |
2 | Émile Marechal | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Bruno Götze | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 13
Summers was nearly two lengths behind Texier.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pierre Texier | ![]() |
1:31.0 | Q |
2 | George Summers | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Louis Weintz | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 14
Lavery won easily.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | J. L. Lavery | ![]() |
1:41.0 | Q |
2 | Antonie Gerrits | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 15
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Clarence Kingsbury | ![]() |
1:27.4 | Q |
2 | Gaston Delaplane | ![]() |
Unknown |
Quarterfinal 16
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
— | Georges Perrin | ![]() |
Time limit exceeded | |
Frank Shore | ![]() |
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Neumer was inches behind Johnson.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Victor Johnson | ![]() |
1:27.4 | Q |
2 | Karl Neumer | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | Floris Venter | ![]() |
Unknown | |
4 | Pierre Texier | ![]() |
Unknown |
Semifinal 2
Payne was over a length behind Schilles; placement of the three non-qualifiers is unclear.
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Maurice Schilles | ![]() |
1:38.8 | Q |
2–4 | George Cameron | ![]() |
Unknown | |
Daniel Flynn | ![]() |
Unknown | ||
Ernest Payne | ![]() |
Unknown |
Semifinal 3
Jones won by half a wheel.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Benjamin Jones | ![]() |
1:40.8 | Q |
2 | Émile Demangel | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | J. L. Lavery | ![]() |
Unknown |
Semifinal 4
Morisetti was two lengths behind Kingsbury.[2]
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Clarence Kingsbury | ![]() |
1:35.6 | Q |
2 | Guglielmo Morisetti | ![]() |
Unknown | |
3 | André Auffray | ![]() |
Unknown |
Final
Johnson suffered a punctured wheel shortly after the start, and retired. The other three riders crawled around the track, jockeying for position. When the final sprint occurred on the last lap, Kingsbury also punctured a tyre when entering the main straight. Jones and Schilles raced to the finish line, with Schilles winning by a couple of inches. However the race took longer than the 1 minute 45 second time limit, and was declared void. Much to the surprise of spectators and the competitors, the National Cyclists Union refused to allow the race to be rerun.[3] According to the Official Report, "the Frenchman apparently won by inches, but the Judge did not officially place the riders.[4]"
Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
---|---|---|---|
– | Victor Johnson | ![]() |
NMR |
Benjamin Jones | ![]() | ||
Clarence Kingsbury | ![]() | ||
Maurice Schilles | ![]() |
Notes
Sources
- 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].