Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint was one of the cycling events in the 1896 Summer Olympics. It was held on 11 April. It was the second event that day. The sprint was 6 laps around the track and was 2 kilometres long. There were 4 Cyclists from 3 Nations. The sprint was was won by Paul Masson of France. His teammate, Léon Flameng, was in 3rd place. Stamatios Nikolopoulos of Greece was in 2nd place.

Men's sprint at the Games of the I Olympiad
Venue	Neo Phaliron Velodrome
Date	11 April 1896
Competitors	4 from 3 nations
Medalists
Paul Masson  France   Stamatios Nikolopoulos  Greece   Léon Flameng  France
	1900»

Background

The sprint was the first time this event happened. The event was at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912.

Competition

The event was a single race. All 4 racers started together. The race was 2 kilometers. The track was ​¹⁄₃ kilometres long, so every racer did 6 laps.

Schedule

The exact time that the event happened was not known.

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

Results

The race was very slow. Rosemeyer had to stop because his bike stopped working. At the end of the race, Masson passed Nikolopoulos. He won by 15 meters. Flameng was very far behind, and was in third place.

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

• 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 [1])
• 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 [2])
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.