# Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's 1000 metre sprint was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the second shortest of the individual event distances. Each nation could enter up to 12 cyclists.

## Background

This was the third appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the finalists from 1900 returned.
Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden each made their debut in the men's sprint. France and Germany made their third appearance, having competed in both previous editions of the event.

## Competition format

The 1000 metre sprint race consisted of approximately 1 2⁄3 laps of the 660 yard track. The time limit for the race was 1 minute and 45 seconds. The competition was conducted in three rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final). The quarterfinals featured 16 heats, with up to 4 cyclists each. The winning cyclist in each heat advanced to the semifinals, provided that the time limit was not exceeded. The semifinal round comprised 4 semifinals, each with 4 cyclists except that 2 were reduced to 3 cyclists because two of the heats had resulted in no winner under the time limit. Again, the winning cyclist in each semifinal advanced to the final.

## 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 | Albert Taillandier (FRA) | 12.6 | Paris, France | 13 September 1900 |
$^*$ World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.
The 200 metre sprint splits were not tracked for this Games, so no new records were set.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Thursday, 16 July 1908 | 15:00 16:45 17:30 | Quarterfinals Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

Johnson won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Victor Johnson | Great Britain | 1:33.8 | Q |
| 2 | Gerard Bosch van Drakenstein | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 3 | Guglielmo Malatesta | Italy | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

Poulain was a wheel behind Venter.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Floris Venter | South Africa | 1:33.2 | Q |
| 2 | André Poulain | France | Unknown | |
| 3 | Thomas Matthews | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

Hansson was one length behind Schilles.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Maurice Schilles | France | 1:38.4 | Q |
| 2 | Andrew Hansson | Sweden | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

Flynn won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Daniel Flynn | Great Britain | 1:30.2 | Q |
| 2 | Pierre Seginaud | France | Unknown | |
| 3 | Paul Schulze | Germany | Unknown | |
| 4 | Frederick McCarthy | Canada | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

Nijland trailed Payne by a length and a half.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ernest Payne | Great Britain | 1:32.0 | Q |
| 2 | Dorus Nijland | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 6

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
| — | Willie Maggie | Great Britain | Time limit exceeded |
| — | Hermann Martens | Germany | Time limit exceeded |
| — | Johannes van Spengen | Netherlands | Time limit exceeded |

#### Quarterfinal 7

Neumer won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Karl Neumer | Germany | 1:33.2 | Q |
| 2 | Richard Villepontoux | France | Unknown | |
| 3 | William Bailey | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 8

Cameron won by two lengths.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Cameron | United States | 1:29.4 | Q |
| 2 | Philipus Freylinck | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 3 | Herbert Crowther | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 4 | Gaston Dreyfus | France | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 9

Morton was two and a half lengths behind Demangel.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Émile Demangel | France | 1:35.2 | Q |
| 2 | William Morton | Canada | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 10

Auffray was the only starter in the heat.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | André Auffray | France | 1:23.6 | Q |

#### Quarterfinal 11

Morisetti was the only starter in the heat.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Guglielmo Morisetti | Italy | 1:21.4 | Q |

#### Quarterfinal 12

Marechal was one length behind Jones.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Benjamin Jones | Great Britain | 1:35.0 | Q |
| 2 | Émile Marechal | France | Unknown | |
| 3 | Bruno Götze | Germany | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 13

Summers was nearly two lengths behind Texier.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pierre Texier | France | 1:31.0 | Q |
| 2 | George Summers | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 3 | Louis Weintz | United States | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 14

Lavery won easily.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joe Lavery | Great Britain | 1:41.0 | Q |
| 2 | Antonie Gerrits | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 15

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Clarence Kingsbury | Great Britain | 1:27.4 | Q |
| 2 | Gaston Delaplane | France | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 16

| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| — | Georges Perrin | France | Time limit exceeded | |
| — | Frank Shore | South Africa | Time limit exceeded | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

Neumer was inches behind Johnson.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Victor Johnson | Great Britain | 1:27.4 | Q |
| 2 | Karl Neumer | Germany | Unknown | |
| 3 | Floris Venter | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 4 | Pierre Texier | France | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 2

Payne was over a length behind Schilles; placement of the three non-qualifiers is unclear.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Maurice Schilles | France | 1:38.8 | Q |
| 2–4 | George Cameron | United States | Unknown | |
| 2–4 | Daniel Flynn | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 2–4 | Ernest Payne | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 3

Jones won by half a wheel.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Benjamin Jones | Great Britain | 1:40.8 | Q |
| 2 | Émile Demangel | France | Unknown | |
| 3 | J. L. Lavery | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 4

Morisetti was two lengths behind Kingsbury.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Clarence Kingsbury | Great Britain | 1:35.6 | Q |
| 2 | Guglielmo Morisetti | Italy | Unknown | |
| 3 | André Auffray | France | Unknown | |

### Final

Johnson suffered a punctured wheel shortly after the start, and retired. The other three riders crawled around the track, jockeying for position. When the final sprint occurred on the last lap, Kingsbury also punctured a tyre when entering the main straight. Jones and Schilles raced to the finish line, with Schilles winning by a couple of inches. However the race took longer than the 1 minute 45 second time limit, and was declared void. Much to the surprise of spectators and the competitors, the National Cyclists Union refused to allow the race to be rerun. According to the Official Report, "the Frenchman apparently won by inches, but the Judge did not officially place the riders."
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
| – | Victor Johnson | Great Britain | NMR |
| – | Benjamin Jones | Great Britain | NMR |
| – | Clarence Kingsbury | Great Britain | NMR |
| – | Maurice Schilles | France | NMR |