Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's track time trial

The men's time trial was one of 5 track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth event on the cycling schedule and was held on 11 April. The first time trial competition was the only time that Olympic time trials were held over the distance of one-third of a kilometre; when the event returned to the programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics the distance was set at one kilometre.

Men's track time trial
at the Games of the I Olympiad
The french participants Flameng and Masson
VenueNeo Phaliron Velodrome
Date11 April 1896
Competitors8 from 5 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paul Masson
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Stamatios Nikolopoulos
 Greece
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Adolf Schmal
 Austria
1906 (Intercalated Games)
1928 (Summer Olympics) →

Background

edit

This was the first appearance of the event, which would not be held again until 1928 (after which it would be held every Games until dropped from the programme after 2004). This was the only time the event was held over a distance of one-third of a kilometre, rather than the one kilometre usually used. Paul Masson of France was the most significant cyclist in the small field, having won a "major international race" in 1894.[1]

Competition format

edit

The event was a time trial on the track. In 1896, the distance was one-third of a kilometre, which was one lap around the track. A flying start was used.[1][2]

Schedule

edit

The exact time of the event is not known; the cycling events began shortly after 2 p.m. and the time trial was the third event, after the 2 kilometres and 10 kilometres races.

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

Results

edit

The time trial race was once around the track, or one-third of a kilometre. It was held on 11 April and eight cyclists competed. Masson won his third race of the day, with Schmal and Nikolopoulos tying for second place and having to compete in a race-off for the second position.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
  Paul Masson   France 24.0
2 Stamatios Nikolopoulos   Greece 26.0 Race-off
Adolf Schmal   Austria 26.0 Race-off
4 Edward Battell   Great Britain 26.2
5 Frederick Keeping   Great Britain 27.0
5 Theodor Leupold   Germany 27.0
5 Léon Flameng   France 27.0
8 Joseph Rosemeyer   Germany 27.2

Race-off

edit

In this race, Nikolopoulos improved upon his time from the first round, winning the race for an overall second-place finish. Schmal was slower in this race than he had been in the first one.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Stamatios Nikolopoulos   Greece 25.4
  Adolf Schmal   Austria 26.6

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "333 1/3 metres Time Trial, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 98.