Cycling at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint cycling event at the 1936 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August and was one of six events at the 1936 Olympics.[1] There were 20 competitors from 20 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist.[2][3] The event was won, in a disputed final, by Toni Merkens of Germany, the nation's first medal in the men's sprint. Arie van Vliet took the silver medal, the fifth consecutive Games that a Dutch cyclist had finished in the top two. Louis Chaillot of France became the first man to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to his 1932 silver; it was the fourth consecutive podium appearance for France.

Men's sprint
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Stone commemorating Toni Merkens
VenueOlympic Cycling Stadium, Berlin
Dates6–7 August 1936
Competitors20 from 20 nations
Medalists
Toni Merkens
 Germany
Arie van Vliet
 Netherlands
Louis Chaillot
 France
Cycling at the
1936 Summer Olympics
Road events
Individual road racemen
Team road racemen
Track events
1000m time trialmen
Sprintmen
Tandemmen
Team pursuitmen-

When van Vliet began to overtake Merkens in the first race of the final, Merkens swerved to the right and blatantly interfered with Van Vliet. No penalty was called, and a disconcerted van Vliet lost the second race. The Dutch team protested, but instead of being disqualified, Merkens was fined 100 marks instead.[4]

Background

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Two of the semifinalists from 1932 returned: Louis Chaillot of France, who had won the silver medal, and Dunc Gray of Australia, who had not started the bronze medal race but had won the track time trial event. The favorites in 1936, however, were Toni Merkens of Germany and Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands, the winner and runner-up in the 1935 World Championship.[2]

The Republic of China, New Zealand, Norway, and Peru each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its eighth appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

This track cycling event consisted of numerous rounds. Each race involved the riders starting simultaneously and next to each other, from a standing start. Because the early part of races tend to be slow-paced and highly tactical, only the time for the last 200 metres of the one-kilometre race is recorded.

The competition involved five main rounds and a repechage. In the first round, there were ten heats of two cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the second round, while the loser competed in a repechage. The repechage featured four heats, two of three cyclists and two of two cyclists. The last-placed finisher in each repechage was eliminated, while the winner advanced along with the second-place rider in the three-man heats. Round 2 and the quarterfinals were each head-to-head, single-elimination races: eight heats in round 2 and four heats in the quarterfinals. The semifinals were also head-to-head competitions, with the winners advancing to the final and the losers going to a bronze medal match.

The 1932 competition had introduced the best-of-three format for the final (and only the final); the 1936 version expanded that best-of-three format to the bronze medal match as well. The two cyclists in each match competed up to three times, with the first cyclist to win two races being the winner.[2][3]

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 recordUnknownUnknown*UnknownUnknown
Olympic record Thomas Johnson (GBR)11.8Antwerp, Belgium9 August 1920

* World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.

No new Olympic record was set during the competition.

Schedule
Date Time Round
Thursday, 6 August 193618:00Round 1
Repechage
Friday, 7 August 193618:00Round 2
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals

Results

Round 1

The winner in each heat qualified for the second round. The loser was relegated to the repechage for another chance at qualifying.

Round 1 heat 1
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Henri Collard Belgium13.2Q
2Dunc Gray AustraliaR

Round 1 heat 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Louis Chaillot France12.8Q
2Nedyu Rachev BulgariaR

Round 1 heat 3
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Ray Hicks Great Britain13.6Q
2Manuel Riquelme ChileR

Round 1 heat 4
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Arie van Vliet Netherlands12.6Q
2Doug Peace CanadaR

Round 1 heat 5
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Benedetto Pola Italy14.0Q
2Howard Wing Republic of ChinaR

Round 1 heat 6
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Werner Wägelin Switzerland12.4Q
2Haakon Sandtorp NorwayR

Round 1 heat 7
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1George Giles New Zealand12.6Q
2Imre Győrffy HungaryR

Round 1 heat 8
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Toni Merkens Germany12.8Q
2Al Sellinger United StatesR

Round 1 heat 9
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Franz Dusika Austria15.0Q
2Ted Clayton South AfricaR

Round 1 heat 10
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Karl Magnussen Denmark13.2Q
2José Mazzini PeruR

Repechage

The last place finisher in each repechage was eliminated. The winner of each heat advanced to the second round, along with the second place finisher in heats where there were three cyclists.

Repechage heat 1
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Dunc Gray Australia13.0Q
2Ted Clayton South AfricaQ
3José Mazzini Peru

Repechage heat 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Al Sellinger United States13.4Q
2Imre Győrffy HungaryQ
3Nedyu Rachev Bulgaria

Repechage heat 3
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Haakon Sandtorp Norway13.0Q
2Manuel Riquelme Chile

Repechage heat 4
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Doug Peace Canada15.2Q
2Howard Wing Republic of China

Round 2

The winner of each heat advanced; the loser was eliminated.

Round 2 heat 1
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Karl Magnussen Denmark13.4Q
2Imre Győrffy Hungary

Round 2 heat 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Toni Merkens Germany13.0Q
2Haakon Sandtorp Norway

Round 2 heat 3
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Werner Wägelin Switzerland13.4Q
2Ted Clayton South Africa

Round 2 heat 4
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Benedetto Pola Italy12.6Q
2George Giles New Zealand

Round 2 heat 5
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Arie van Vliet Netherlands12.0Q
2Franz Dusika Austria

Round 2 heat 6
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Dunc Gray Australia12.2Q
2Ray Hicks Great Britain

Round 2 heat 7
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Louis Chaillot France12.0Q
2Doug Peace Canada

Round 2 heat 8
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Henri Collard Belgium13.2Q
2Al Sellinger United States

Quarterfinals

The winners qualified for the semifinals; the losers were eliminated.

Quarterfinal 1
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Louis Chaillot France12.6Q
2Karl Magnussen Denmark

Quarterfinal 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Arie van Vliet Netherlands13.0Q
2Dunc Gray Australia

Quarterfinal 3
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Benedetto Pola Italy12.6Q
2Werner Wägelin Switzerland

Quarterfinal 4
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Toni Merkens Germany13.0Q
2Henri Collard Belgium

Semifinals

The semifinal winners advanced to the gold medal final, while the losers competed in the bronze medal final.

Semifinal 1
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Toni Merkens Germany12.4Q
2Benedetto Pola ItalyB

Semifinal 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Arie van Vliet Netherlands12.0Q
2Louis Chaillot FranceB

Finals

Both the gold and bronze medal finals were conducted as best-of-three competitions. In each case, the same cyclist won both of the first two races, making a third race unnecessary. Merkens was fined for "deviating from the racing lane" in the first race of the final, though was allowed to finish the competition.[5]

Bronze medal match
RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3
Louis Chaillot France12.212.0N/A
4Benedetto Pola ItalyN/A

Final
RankCyclistNationRace 1Race 2Race 3
Toni Merkens Germany11.811.8N/A
Arie van Vliet NetherlandsN/A

References
  1. "Cycling at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's Sprint". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  2. "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 2, p. 926.
  4. Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book of the Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 200. ISBN 0140066322.
  5. Official Report, p. 927
  • 1936 Official Report.
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