Cycling at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint (or "scratch race") at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland was held from July 28 to July 31, 1952. There were 27 participants from 27 nations, with each nation limited to a single cyclist.[1] The event was won by Enzo Sacchi of Italy, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's sprint. Lionel Cox's silver was Australia's first medal in the event. Werner Potzernheim of Germany took bronze.

Men's sprint
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Lionel Cox
VenueHelsinki Velodrome
DatesJuly 28 – 31
Competitors27 from 27 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Enzo Sacchi
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lionel Cox
 Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Werner Potzernheim
 Germany
← 1948
1956 →

Background

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This was the 10th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. None of the semifinalists from 1948 returned. The heavy favorite was Enzo Sacchi, the reigning world champion. The man who would have been his biggest competitor, Russell Mockridge of Australia, competed only in the track time trial and tandem.[2]

Finland, Guatemala, Jamaica, Japan, Romania, and the Soviet Union each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 10th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

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This track cycling event consisted of numerous rounds: four main rounds and three repechages. 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 typically recorded.

The trend in the Olympic sprint competition was toward expansion of a best-of-three match format (beginning in 1932 for the final, expanding in 1936 and 1948 to more rounds); the 1952 edition bucked that trend by returning to an entirely single-race format for the first time since 1928. It also used races with up to five cyclists, where other recent Games had limited individuals races to two or three competitors. A repechage was used after each round instead of only early rounds; late-round races featured three cyclists instead of the head-to-head format that had become common. This also meant that there was no bronze medal match.

The first round consisted of eight heats of three or four cyclists each; the winner of each heat advanced to the quarterfinals while all others were sent to the first repechage. The first repechage had four heats, one of four cyclists and three of five cyclists (though in one of these heats only three men started); again, the winner advanced to the quarterfinals, but this time all others were eliminated. The 12 quarterfinalists competed in four heats of three cyclists each; winners advanced to the semifinals while second and third place cyclists went to the second repechage. The second repechage had two heats of four cyclists each; the winner advanced to the semifinals while the others were all eliminated. With six semifinalists, the semifinals consisted of two heats of three men each. Once again, the winner of each heat advanced while others were sent to a third repechage. The third repechage was a single race of the four semifinal losers, with the winner advancing to the final. The final featured the remaining three riders.[2][3]

Records

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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.

Cyril Peacock broke the Olympic record with 11.7 seconds in the sixth heat of round 1. Werner Potzernheim matched that in the first heat of the first repechage; John Millman did the same in the third heat. Peacock recorded the same time again in the second quarterfinal. Potzernheim bettered that time in the fourth quarterfinal, finishing the last 200 metres in 11.6 seconds. Lionel Cox matched that time in the second semifinal, with Potzernheim tying it again in the third repechage.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Monday, 28 July 1952 11:00 Round 1
First repechage
Tuesday, 29 July 1952 11:00
 
18:00
 
Quarterfinals
Second repechage
Semifinals
Third repechage
Thursday, 31 July 1952 18:00 Final

Results

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Round 1

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Round 1 heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Lionel Cox   Australia 11.9 Q
2 Werner Potzernheim   Germany R
3 Hernán Masanés   Chile R

Round 1 heat 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Stéphan Martens   Belgium 12.9 Q
2 Kurt Nemetz   Austria R
3 Netai Bysack   India R

Round 1 heat 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Franck Lenormand   France 12.6 Q
2 Kenneth Farnum   Jamaica R
3 Otar Dadunashvili   Soviet Union R

Round 1 heat 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Antonio Giménez   Argentina 12.8 Q
2 Helge Törn   Finland R
3 Kihei Tomioka   Japan R

Round 1 heat 5

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Enzo Sacchi   Italy 12.4 Q
2 Zdeněk Košta   Czechoslovakia R
3 Muhammad Naqi Mallick   Pakistan R

Round 1 heat 6

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Cyril Peacock   Great Britain 11.7 Q, OR
2 Ove Krogh Rants   Denmark R
3 Ion Ionita   Romania R
4 Gustavo Martínez   Guatemala R

Round 1 heat 7

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Béla Szekeres   Hungary 11.9 Q
2 John Millman   Canada R
3 Fritz Siegenthaler   Switzerland R
4 Colin Dickinson   New Zealand R

Round 1 heat 8

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Johan Hijzelendoorn   Netherlands 12.1 Q
2 Raymond Robinson   South Africa R
3 Steven Hromjak   United States R
4 Luis Toro   Venezuela R

First repechage

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First repechage heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Werner Potzernheim   Germany 11.7 Q, =OR
2 Otar Dadunashvili   Soviet Union
3 Luis Toro   Venezuela
4 Steven Hromjak   United States
5 Helge Törn   Finland

First repechage heat 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Ove Krogh Rants   Denmark 12.3 Q
2 Fritz Siegenthaler   Switzerland
3 Zdeněk Košta   Czechoslovakia
4 Kihei Tomioka   Japan

First repechage heat 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 John Millman   Canada Q, =OR
2 Kurt Nemetz   Austria
3 Muhammad Naqi Mallick   Pakistan
Netai Bysack   India DNS
Gustavo Martínez   Guatemala DNS

First repechage heat 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Raymond Robinson   South Africa 12.3 Q
2 Hernán Masanés   Chile
3 Colin Dickinson   New Zealand
4 Kenneth Farnum   Jamaica
5 Ion Ionita   Romania

Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Lionel Cox   Australia 12.5 Q
2 Raymond Robinson   South Africa R
3 Stéphan Martens   Belgium R

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Cyril Peacock   Great Britain 11.7 Q, =OR
2 Franck Lenormand   France R
3 John Millman   Canada R

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Enzo Sacchi   Italy 12.0 Q
2 Ove Krogh Rants   Denmark R
3 Béla Szekeres   Hungary R

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Werner Potzernheim   Germany 11.6 Q, OR
2 Antonio Giménez   Argentina R
3 Johan Hijzelendoorn   Netherlands R

Second repechage

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Second repechage heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Raymond Robinson   South Africa 11.8 Q
2 John Millman   Canada
3 Johan Hijzelendoorn   Netherlands
4 Ove Krogh Rants   Denmark

Second repechage heat 2

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A crash in the original race of this heat resulted in a re-run. Giménez had the lead with Martens on his outside; Lenormand hit Martens's back wheel while trying to pass him. Lenormand had to be taken to the hospital for his injuries and could not compete in the re-run. Martens was able to race, but was hampered by his injuries.[4]

Original
Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Antonio Giménez   Argentina 12.3 R
2 Béla Szekeres   Hungary R
Stéphan Martens   Belgium DNF R
Franck Lenormand   France DNF R
Re-run
Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Béla Szekeres   Hungary 11.8 Q
2 Antonio Giménez   Argentina
3 Stéphan Martens   Belgium
Franck Lenormand   France DNS

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Enzo Sacchi   Italy 12.0 Q
2 Raymond Robinson   South Africa R
3 Werner Potzernheim   Germany R

Semifinal 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Lionel Cox   Australia 11.6 Q, =OR
2 Cyril Peacock   Great Britain R
3 Béla Szekeres   Hungary R

Third repechage

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
Notes
1 Werner Potzernheim   Germany 11.6 Q, =OR
2 Cyril Peacock   Great Britain
3 Raymond Robinson   South Africa
4 Béla Szekeres   Hungary

Final

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
200 m
  Enzo Sacchi   Italy 12.0
  Lionel Cox   Australia
  Werner Potzernheim   Germany

Final classification

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Rank Cyclist Nation
  Enzo Sacchi   Italy
  Lionel Cox   Australia
  Werner Potzernheim   Germany
4 Cyril Peacock   Great Britain
5 Raymond Robinson   South Africa
6 Béla Szekeres   Hungary
7 Antonio Giménez   Argentina
John Millman   Canada
9 Johan Hijzelendoorn   Netherlands
Stéphan Martens   Belgium
11 Franck Lenormand   France
Ove Krogh Rants   Denmark
13 Otar Dadunashvili   Soviet Union
Hernán Masanés   Chile
Kurt Nemetz   Austria
Fritz Siegenthaler   Switzerland
17 Colin Dickinson   New Zealand
Zdeněk Košta   Czechoslovakia
Muhammad Naqi Mallick   Pakistan
Luis Toro   Venezuela
21 Kenneth Farnum   Jamaica
Steven Hromjak   United States
Kihei Tomioka   Japan
24 Helge Törn   Finland
Ion Ionita   Romania
26 Netai Bysack   India
Gustavo Martínez   Guatemala

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling: Men's sprint". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
  2. ^ a b "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 544.
  4. ^ Official Report, p. 541.
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