Cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's track time trial

The men's track time trial at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, was held on Thursday 6 December 1956. There were 22 participants from 22 nations.[1] Each competitor rode singly against the watch from a standing start. Competitors were allowed one ride only. The event was won by Leandro Faggin of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's track time trial. Ladislav Fouček earned Czechoslovakia's first medal in the event with his silver, while Alfred Swift gave South Africa its second consecutive bronze medal.

Cycling - Men's track time trial
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Leandro Faggin (1960s)
VenueMelbourne
Date6 December 1956
Competitors22 from 22 nations
Winning time1:09.8 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Leandro Faggin
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ladislav Fouček
 Czechoslovakia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Alfred Swift
 South Africa
← 1952
1960 →

Background

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This was the seventh appearance of the event, which had previously been held in 1896 and every Games since 1928. It would be held every Games until being dropped from the programme after 2004. There were two returning cyclists from the 1952 Games: twelfth-place finisher Ladislav Fouček of Czechoslovakia and seventeenth-place finisher Hernán Masanés of Chile. Leandro Faggin of Italy was the amateur world record holder.[2]

Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam each made their debut in the men's track time trial. France and Great Britain each made their seventh appearance, having competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

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The event was a time trial on the track, with each cyclist competing separately to attempt to achieve the fastest time. Each cyclist raced one kilometre from a standing start.[2][3]

Records

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The following were the world and Olympic records prior to the competition.

World record   Leandro Faggin (ITA) 1:09.20 Milan, Italy 5 September 1956
Olympic record   Russell Mockridge (AUS) 1:11.1 Helsinki, Finland 31 July 1952

Leandro Faggin broke the Olympic record with a time of 1:09.8. Nobody else was able to surpass the old record time.

Schedule

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All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 6 December 1956 20:00 Final

Results

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Fouček was the first rider to go. He set a difficult pace, with the second-best Olympic performance yet of 1:11.4 after Russell Mockridge's 1952 record of 1:11.1. The next 15 riders all failed to match Fouček, but Faggin (who held the world record of 1:09.2) beat him by over a second and a half. The new Olympic record set by Faggin was 1:09.8; none of the five remaining riders came close.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
  Leandro Faggin   Italy 1:09.8 OR
  Ladislav Fouček   Czechoslovakia 1:11.4
  Alfred Swift   South Africa 1:11.6
4 Warren Scarfe   Australia 1:12.1
5 Alan Danson   Great Britain 1:12.3
Boris Savostin   Soviet Union 1:12.3
Luis Serra   Uruguay 1:12.3
8 Warwick Dalton   New Zealand 1:12.6
9 Anésio Argenton   Brazil 1:12.7
10 Allen Bell   United States 1:12.8
11 Kurt Schein   Austria 1:13.1
12 Tetsuo Osawa   Japan 1:13.3
13 Allan Juel Larsen   Denmark 1:14.3
14 Hernán Masanés   Chile 1:14.7
15 Octavio Echeverry   Colombia 1:14.8
16 Renzo Colzi   France 1:15.1
17 James Davies   Canada 1:15.2
18 Paul Nyman   Finland 1:16.1
19 Hylton Mitchell   Trinidad and Tobago 1:16.5
Evrard Godefroid   Belgium 1:16.5
21 Saleem Farooqi   Pakistan 1:20.8
22 Nguyễn Văn Nhieu   Vietnam 1:23.6

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1948 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's 1,000 metres Time Trial". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b "1,000 metres Time Trial, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 420.
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