# Cycling at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint cycling event at the 1948 Summer Olympics took place between 7 and 9 August and was one of six events at the 1948 Olympics. There were 23 cyclists from 23 nations, with each nation limited to one competitor. The event was won by Mario Ghella of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's sprint. Reg Harris of Great Britain, heavily favored coming into the event, finished with silver, the first medal for a British cyclist in the sprint since 1920. Axel Schandorff's bronze was Denmark's first medal in the event since 1928. The podium streaks of the Netherlands (five Games) and France (four Games) both ended, with neither nation's cyclist able to advance to the quarterfinals.

## Background

This was the ninth appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the semifinalists from 1936 returned, but Howard Wing of China competed again after the 12-year break occasioned by World War II. The heavy favorite and host nation hero was 1947 World Champion Reg Harris; his biggest rival, Cor Bijster of the Netherlands, had turned professional and could not compete in the Games.
Cuba, Guyana, India, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its ninth 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 race is typically recorded (though the full time for these Games was recorded as well). The distance for the sprint in 1948 was actually 920 metres instead of the standard 1000 metres, to be exactly two laps of the track.
The first two rounds consisted of single races between pairs of cyclists. The berths in the second round were allocated to the winners from each of the races in the first round, and the winners from each race in the repechage round. Starting with the quarterfinals stage, cyclists were paired once again, this time racing against each other two times, with the winner advancing further in the competition. This was the first time that the best-of-three format was used for the quarterfinals and semifinals (having been introduced in 1932 for the final and expanded to the bronze medal match in 1936).

## 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 | Thomas Johnson (GBR) | 11.8 | Antwerp, Belgium | 9 August 1920 |
$^*$ World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.
No new Olympic record was set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 7 August 1948 | 10:30 | Round 1 Repechage Round 2 Quarterfinals 1–3 |
| Monday, 9 August 1948 | 16:00 | Round 2 heat 2 re-run Quarterfinal 4 Semifinals Finals |

## Results
### Round 1
#### Round 1 heat 1

Rocca won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Leonel Rocca | Uruguay | 3:10.9 | 12.6 | Q |
| 2 | Compton Gonsalves | Trinidad and Tobago | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 2

Van De Velde won by a wheel. Wing broke his collar bone after the race.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Emile Van De Velde | Belgium | 2:48.2 | 13.6 | Q |
| 2 | Howard Wing | Republic of China | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 3

Roth won by inches.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jean Roth | Switzerland | 2:31.5 | 13.0 | Q |
| 2 | Mario Masanés | Chile | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 4

Harris won by a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Reg Harris | Great Britain | 2:17.0 | 14.4 | Q |
| 2 | Rusi Mulla Feroze | India | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 5

Hijzelendoorn won by half a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jan Hijzelendoorn | Netherlands | 1:42.7 | 13.3 | Q |
| 2 | Reinaldo Paseiro | Cuba | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 6

Cortoni won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Clodomiro Cortoni | Argentina | 1:58.0 | 12.4 | Q |
| 2 | Julio César León | Venezuela | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 7

Schandorff won by a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Axel Schandorff | Denmark | 1:49.8 | 12.5 | Q |
| 2 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 8

Bellenger won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jacques Bellenger | France | 2:09.1 | 12.5 | Q |
| 2 | Laddie Lewis | Guyana | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 9

Welt won by half a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Erich Welt | Austria | 3:13.9 | 17.2 | Q |
| 2 | Adolfo Romero | Mexico | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 10

Heid won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jack Heid | United States | 1:57.4 | 13.0 | Q |
| 2 | Muhammad Naqi Mallick | Pakistan | | | R |

#### Round 1 heat 11

Ghella won easily.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Ghella | Italy | 1:54.4 | 12.9 | Q |
| 2 | Bob Lacourse | Canada | | | R |

### Repechage

Howard Wing from China broke his collar bone after finishing his first round race. Manthos Kaloudis from Greece, who had arrived late and missed the first round, took his place.

#### Repechage heat 1

Lacourse won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Bob Lacourse | Canada | 1:48.1 | 13.7 | Q |
| 2 | Adolfo Romero | Mexico | | | |

#### Repechage heat 2

Paseiro won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Reinaldo Paseiro | Cuba | 3:15.3 | 14.5 | Q |
| 2 | Rusi Mulla Feroze | India | | | |

#### Repechage heat 3

Bazzano won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | 2:31.0 | 14.1 | Q |
| 2 | Muhammad Naqi Mallick | Pakistan | | | |

#### Repechage heat 4

León won by a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Julio César León | Venezuela | 2:04.7 | 12.6 | Q |
| 2 | Compton Gonsalves | Trinidad and Tobago | | | |

#### Repechage heat 5

Masanés beat replacement rider Kaloudis by two lengths, with Lewis finishing third.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Masanés | Chile | 1:55.3 | 13.3 | Q |
| 2 | Manthos Kaloudis | Greece | | | |
| 3 | Laddie Lewis | Guyana | | | |

### Round 2

The race between Jan Hijzelendoorn from the Netherlands and Leonel Rocca from Uruguay was repeated following a protest from Uruguay after the disqualification of Rocca.

#### Round 2 heat 1

Ghella won by four lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Ghella | Italy | 1:48.1 | 12.0 | Q |
| 2 | Julio César León | Venezuela | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 2

There was a crash at the very end of the race, with Hijzelendoorn unable to finish and Rocca disqualified. The Uruguayan team protested the result, however, and the protest was successful. The heat was ordered to be re-run on the next day of competition (two days later). The delay for the appeal led to 40 minutes of inactivity on the track, which the spectators did not appreciate. The result also delayed the start of the later rounds from Saturday to Monday. In the re-run, Rocca won by two lengths.

##### Original

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jan Hijzelendoorn | Netherlands | DNF | | Re-run |
| 2 | Leonel Rocca | Uruguay | DSQ | 13.2 | Re-run |

##### Re-run

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Leonel Rocca | Uruguay | 1:35.9 | 13.5 | Q |
| 2 | Jan Hijzelendoorn | Netherlands | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 3

Masanés won by inches.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Masanés | Chile | 3:04.5 | 12.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jacques Bellenger | France | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 4

Schandorff won easily.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Axel Schandorff | Denmark | 1:49.6 | 12.5 | Q |
| 2 | Erich Welt | Austria | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 5

Van De Velde won by half a wheel.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Emile Van De Velde | Belgium | 3:46.5 | 13.0 | Q |
| 2 | Reinaldo Paseiro | Cuba | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 6

Heid won by an inch.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Jack Heid | United States | 2:05.7 | 12.0 | Q |
| 2 | Clodomiro Cortoni | Argentina | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 7

Bazzano won by one and a half lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | 3:51.6 | 14.3 | Q |
| 2 | Jean Roth | Switzerland | | | |

#### Round 2 heat 8

Harris won by a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time total | Time 200 m | Notes |
| 1 | Reg Harris | Great Britain | 1:31.7 | 15.1 | Q |
| 2 | Bob Lacourse | Canada | | | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

Ghella won the first race by a length and the second by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Ghella | Italy | 1:47.7 12.1 | 2:37.4 12.6 | — | Q |
| 2 | Emile Van De Velde | Belgium | | | — | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

Schandorff won the first race by a length and the second by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Axel Schandorff | Denmark | 1:49.0 12.3 | 2:14.8 12.4 | — | Q |
| 2 | Jack Heid | United States | | | — | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

Harris won both races by a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Reg Harris | Great Britain | 2:39.8 12.5 | 2:13.0 12.8 | — | Q |
| 2 | Mario Masanés | Chile | | | — | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

Bazzano won the first race by a wheel and the second by a length and a half.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | 3:09.4 12.8 | 2:26.6 13.2 | — | Q |
| 2 | Leonel Rocca | Uruguay | | | — | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

Ghella won the first race by three-quarters of a length and the second by three lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Ghella | Italy | 3:53.0 12.1 | 1:55.7 11.9 | — | Q |
| 2 | Axel Schandorff | Denmark | | | — | B |

#### Semifinal 2

Harris won the first race by a length and the second by three-quarters of a length.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Notes |
| 1 | Reg Harris | Great Britain | 4:43.8 13.7 | 2:24.4 12.7 | — | Q |
| 2 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | | | — | B |

### Finals
#### Bronze medal match

Schandorff won the first race by three-quarters of a length and the second by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
| | Axel Schandorff | Denmark | 2:10.4 12.9 | 2:26.0 12.0 | — |
| 4 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia | | | — |

#### Final

Ghella won the first race by three lengths and the second by one and a half lengths. In the first, Ghella made his attack at the 300-yard mark, passing Harris on the inside (accorded a tactical error to leave space inside by the British cyclist). The final distance between the two was increased by Harris easing off to conserve energy for the second race. Doing so did him little good, however, as in the second race Ghella took the lead and fought off two challenges by Harris in the final two straights.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
| | Mario Ghella | Italy | 4:01.2 12.2 | 4:13.4 12.0 | — |
| | Reg Harris | Great Britain | | | — |

## Final standings

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation |
| | Mario Ghella | Italy |
| | Reg Harris | Great Britain |
| | Axel Schandorff | Denmark |
| 4 | Charlie Bazzano | Australia |
| 5 | Jack Heid | United States |
| 5 | Mario Masanés | Chile |
| 5 | Leonel Rocca | Uruguay |
| 5 | Emile Van De Velde | Belgium |
| 9 | Julio César León | Venezuela |
| 9 | Jan Hijzelendoorn | Netherlands |
| 9 | Jacques Bellenger | France |
| 9 | Erich Welt | Austria |
| 9 | Reinaldo Paseiro | Cuba |
| 9 | Clodomiro Cortoni | Argentina |
| 9 | Jean Roth | Switzerland |
| 9 | Bob Lacourse | Canada |
| 9 | Adolfo Romero | Mexico |
| 9 | Rusi Mulla Feroze | India |
| 9 | Muhammad Naqi Mallick | Pakistan |
| 9 | Compton Gonsalves | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 9 | Manthos Kaloudis | Greece |
| 9 | Laddie Lewis | Guyana |
| 9 | Howard Wing | Republic of China |