Cycling at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

Men's sprint
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Toni Merkens Olympiaeiche 1.jpg
Stone commemorating Toni Merkens
VenueOlympic Cycling Stadium, Berlin
Dates6–7 August 1936
Competitors20 from 20 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Toni Merkens
 Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Arie van Vliet
 Netherlands
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Louis Chaillot
 France
← 1932
1948 →

The men's sprint cycling event at the 1936 Summer Olympics took place on 6 and 7 August and was one of six events at the 1936 Olympics. There were 20 competitors from 20 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist. The event was won, in a disputed final, by Toni Merkens of Germany, the nation's first medal in the men's sprint. Arie van Vliet took the silver medal, the fifth consecutive Games that a Dutch cyclist had finished in the top two. Louis Chaillot of France became the first man to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to his 1932 silver; it was the fourth consecutive podium appearance for France.

When van Vliet began to overtake Merkens in the first race of the final, Merkens swerved to the right and blatantly interfered with Van Vliet. No penalty was called, and a disconcerted van Vliet lost the second race. The Dutch team protested, but instead of being disqualified, Merkens was fined 100 marks instead.

Background

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Two of the semifinalists from 1932 returned: Louis Chaillot of France, who had won the silver medal, and Dunc Gray of Australia, who had not started the bronze medal race but had won the track time trial event. The favorites in 1936, however, were Toni Merkens of Germany and Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands, the winner and runner-up in the 1935 World Championship.

The Republic of China, New Zealand, Norway, and Peru each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its eighth appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

This track cycling event consisted of numerous rounds. 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 recorded.

The competition involved five main rounds and a repechage. In the first round, there were ten heats of two cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the second round, while the loser competed in a repechage. The repechage featured four heats, two of three cyclists and two of two cyclists. The last-placed finisher in each repechage was eliminated, while the winner advanced along with the second-place rider in the three-man heats. Round 2 and the quarterfinals were each head-to-head, single-elimination races: eight heats in round 2 and four heats in the quarterfinals. The semifinals were also head-to-head competitions, with the winners advancing to the final and the losers going to a bronze medal match.

The 1932 competition had introduced the best-of-three format for the final (and only the final); the 1936 version expanded that best-of-three format to the bronze medal match as well. The two cyclists in each match competed up to three times, with the first cyclist to win two races being the winner.

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  Thomas Johnson (GBR) 11.8 Antwerp, Belgium 9 August 1920

* World records were not tracked by the UCI until 1954.

No new Olympic record was set during the competition.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Thursday, 6 August 1936 18:00 Round 1
Repechage
Friday, 7 August 1936 18:00 Round 2
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals

Results

Round 1

The winner in each heat qualified for the second round. The loser was relegated to the repechage for another chance at qualifying.

Round 1 heat 1

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Henri Collard  Belgium 13.2 Q
2 Dunc Gray  Australia R

Round 1 heat 2

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Louis Chaillot  France 12.8 Q
2 Nedyu Rachev  Bulgaria R

Round 1 heat 3

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Hicks  Great Britain 13.6 Q
2 Manuel Riquelme  Chile R

Round 1 heat 4

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Arie van Vliet  Netherlands 12.6 Q
2 Doug Peace  Canada R

Round 1 heat 5

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benedetto Pola  Italy 14.0 Q
2 Howard Wing  Republic of China R

Round 1 heat 6

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Werner Wägelin  Switzerland 12.4 Q
2 Haakon Sandtorp  Norway R

Round 1 heat 7

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 George Giles  New Zealand 12.6 Q
2 Imre Győrffy  Hungary R

Round 1 heat 8

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Toni Merkens  Germany 12.8 Q
2 Al Sellinger  United States R

Round 1 heat 9

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Franz Dusika  Austria 15.0 Q
2 Ted Clayton  South Africa R

Round 1 heat 10

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Karl Magnussen  Denmark 13.2 Q
2 José Mazzini  Peru R

Repechage

The last place finisher in each repechage was eliminated. The winner of each heat advanced to the second round, along with the second place finisher in heats where there were three cyclists.

Repechage heat 1

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dunc Gray  Australia 13.0 Q
2 Ted Clayton  South Africa Q
3 José Mazzini  Peru

Repechage heat 2

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Al Sellinger  United States 13.4 Q
2 Imre Győrffy  Hungary Q
3 Nedyu Rachev  Bulgaria

Repechage heat 3

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Haakon Sandtorp  Norway 13.0 Q
2 Manuel Riquelme  Chile

Repechage heat 4

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Doug Peace  Canada 15.2 Q
2 Howard Wing  Republic of China

Round 2

The winner of each heat advanced; the loser was eliminated.

Round 2 heat 1

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Karl Magnussen  Denmark 13.4 Q
2 Imre Győrffy  Hungary

Round 2 heat 2

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Toni Merkens  Germany 13.0 Q
2 Haakon Sandtorp  Norway

Round 2 heat 3

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Werner Wägelin  Switzerland 13.4 Q
2 Ted Clayton  South Africa

Round 2 heat 4

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benedetto Pola  Italy 12.6 Q
2 George Giles  New Zealand

Round 2 heat 5

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Arie van Vliet  Netherlands 12.0 Q
2 Franz Dusika  Austria

Round 2 heat 6

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dunc Gray  Australia 12.2 Q
2 Ray Hicks  Great Britain

Round 2 heat 7

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Louis Chaillot  France 12.0 Q
2 Doug Peace  Canada

Round 2 heat 8

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Henri Collard  Belgium 13.2 Q
2 Al Sellinger  United States

Quarterfinals

The winners qualified for the semifinals; the losers were eliminated.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Louis Chaillot  France 12.6 Q
2 Karl Magnussen  Denmark

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Arie van Vliet  Netherlands 13.0 Q
2 Dunc Gray  Australia

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benedetto Pola  Italy 12.6 Q
2 Werner Wägelin  Switzerland

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Toni Merkens  Germany 13.0 Q
2 Henri Collard  Belgium

Semifinals

The semifinal winners advanced to the gold medal final, while the losers competed in the bronze medal final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Toni Merkens  Germany 12.4 Q
2 Benedetto Pola  Italy B

Semifinal 2

Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Arie van Vliet  Netherlands 12.0 Q
2 Louis Chaillot  France B

Finals

Both the gold and bronze medal finals were conducted as best-of-three competitions. In each case, the same cyclist won both of the first two races, making a third race unnecessary. Merkens was fined for "deviating from the racing lane" in the first race of the final, though was allowed to finish the competition.

Bronze medal match

Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Louis Chaillot  France 12.2 12.0
4 Benedetto Pola  Italy

Final

Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
1st place, gold medalist(s) Toni Merkens  Germany 11.8 11.8
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Arie van Vliet  Netherlands

This page was last updated at 2022-12-18 07:41 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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