The men's

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

cycling event at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

took place on 6 and 7 August and was one of six events at the 1936 Olympics. There were 20 competitors from 20 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 926. The event was won, in a disputed final, by

Toni Merkens Nikolaus Anton "Toni" Merkens (21 June 1912 – 20 June 1944) was a racing cyclist from Germany and Olympic champion. He represented his native country at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he won the gold medal in the men's 1000 m ...

of Germany, the nation's first medal in the men's sprint.

Arie van Vliet Arie Gerrit van Vliet (18 March 1916 – 9 July 2001) was a Dutch sprint cyclist. Between 1934 and 1957, he won 13 medals at world championships, including four gold medals, and set several world records in sprint events, despite the interr ...

took the silver medal, the fifth consecutive Games that a Dutch cyclist had finished in the top two.

Louis Chaillot Louis Chaillot (2 March 1914 – 28 January 1998) was a cyclist from France. He was born in Chaumont, France. He competed for France in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in the tandem event where he finished in fir ...

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. 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.

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:

of France, who had won the silver medal, and

Dunc Gray Edgar Laurence "Dunc" Gray (17 July 190630 August 1996) was an Australian track cyclist and Olympian. Gray was born in Goulburn, New South Wales. He was called 'Dunc', which dates back to school where he was called 'Dunc' and this was later ex ...

of Australia, who had not started the bronze medal race but had won the track time trial event. The favorites in 1936, however, were

of Germany and

of the Netherlands, the winner and runner-up in the 1935 World Championship. 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 Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

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.

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 records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954. No new Olympic record was set during the competition.

Schedule

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

Round 1 heat 2

Round 1 heat 3

Round 1 heat 4

Round 1 heat 5

Round 1 heat 6

Round 1 heat 7

Round 1 heat 8

Round 1 heat 9

Round 1 heat 10

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

Repechage heat 2

Repechage heat 3

Repechage heat 4

Round 2

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

Round 2 heat 1

Round 2 heat 2

Round 2 heat 3

Round 2 heat 4

Round 2 heat 5

Round 2 heat 6

Round 2 heat 7

Round 2 heat 8

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

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.Official Report, p. 927

Bronze medal match

Final

References

* 1936 Official Report. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 1936 Summer Olympics - Men's sprint Cycling at the 1936 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's sprint Track cycling at the 1936 Summer Olympics