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Cycling at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

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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 →

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.

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Enzo Sacchi  Italy 12.0
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lionel Cox  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Werner Potzernheim  Germany

Final classification

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Rank Cyclist Nation
1st place, gold medalist(s) Enzo Sacchi  Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lionel Cox  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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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