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
Venue	Neo Phaliron Velodrome
Date	April 11
Competitors	4 from 3 nations
Medalists
Paul Masson  France Stamatios Nikolopoulos  Greece Léon Flameng  France

Background

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

Competition format

The event featured a single race, with all four competitors starting together. The distance was 2 kilometres, or six laps around the ​¹⁄₃ kilometre track.[1][2]

Schedule

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

Four athletes entered the race. Rosemeyer of Germany had mechanical problems during the race and left the course without finishing. The French cyclists took 1st and 3rd places, while Nikolopoulos of Greece finished second. The race was very slow and tactical, with Masson breaking away late to win easily.

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

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

• Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at )
• Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at )
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.