Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint explained

Event:	Men's sprint
Games:	2008 Summer
Venue:	Laoshan Velodrome
Dates:	August 17 (preliminaries—2nd round) August 18 (quarterfinals) August 19 (semifinals and finals)
Competitors:	21
Nations:	15
Win Value:	10.228/10.216
Gold:	Chris Hoy
Goldnoc:	GBR
Silver:	Jason Kenny
Silvernoc:	GBR
Bronze:	Mickaël Bourgain
Bronzenoc:	FRA
Prev:	2004
Next:	2012

The men's sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 17–19 at the Laoshan Velodrome. There were 21 competitors from 15 nations, with each nation limited to two cyclists. The event was won by Chris Hoy of Great Britain, the nation's first victory in the men's sprint and first medal in the event since 1948. He faced his teammate Jason Kenny in the final, the first time since 1984 that one nation had taken the top two spots. Mickaël Bourgain of France earned bronze. Germany's four-Games (five if East Germany before unification is included) podium streak ended.

Background

This was the 24th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Three of the quarterfinalists from 2004 returned: gold medalist Ryan Bayley of Australia, silver medalist Theo Bos of the Netherlands, and eighth-place finisher Mickaël Bourgain of France. Bos (the 2004, 2006, and 2007 world champion) and Chris Hoy of Great Britain (the 2008 world champion and gold medalist in keirin and team sprint earlier in the 2008 Games) were the favorites.^[1]

The People's Republic of China, Estonia, and Russia each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 24th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Qualification

See main article: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify up to 2 cyclists; there were a total of 21 quota places. Each of the 13 nations qualified for the team sprint could enter one cyclist in the individual sprint. Individuals could also earn qualification through the World Championship, the World Cup, and the "B" World Championship. The top five cyclists on the UCI ranking also qualified.

Competition format

This track cycling event consisted of numerous rounds. The competition began with a flying time trial over 200 metres (the cyclists went around the track 3.5 times, or 875 metres, but only the last 200 metres were timed). All races after the qualifying round consisted of 3 laps of the track (750 metres) but with time recorded only for the final 200 metres. The top 18 cyclists in that qualifying round were seeded into the 1/16 finals. There, they raced one-on-one. The nine winners advanced to the 1/8 finals, while the nine losers were sent to the first repechage. In the repechage, the cyclists were placed in heats of three cyclists apiece; winners moved back into the main competition by advancing into the 1/8 finals.

The twelve cyclists in the 1/8 finals again competed one-on-one. The six winners advanced to the quarterfinals, with the six losers getting another chance at the second repechage. This repechage also consisted of three-cyclist heats, with the two winners moving on to the quarterfinals and the rest of the cyclists competing in a 9th to 12th place classification race.

Beginning with the quarterfinals, the head-to-head competitions switched to a best-of-three format. That format was also used for the semifinals and final. In addition, the bronze medal competition was a best-of-three match between the semifinal losers. The classification race for 5th to 8th places was a single race with all four cyclists competing.^[2]

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.

Chris Hoy set a new Olympic record of 9.815 seconds in the qualifying round. The next four fastest men also came in under the old record.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 17 August 2008	11:20 16:30 17:15 17:45 18:20	Qualifying round Round 1 First repechage 1/8 finals Second repechage
Monday, 18 August 2008	17:20	Quarterfinals
Tuesday, 19 August 2008	16:40 16:50 18:35   18:50	Semifinals Classification 9–12 Final Bronze medal match Classification 5–8

Results

Qualifying round

200 metre time trial, with the top 18 riders advancing.^[3]

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			9.815	73.357	,
2			9.857	73.044
3			10.064	71.542
4			10.098	71.301
5			10.123	71.125
6			10.199	70.595
7			10.272	70.093
8			10.314	69.808
9			10.318	69.780
10			10.337	69.652
11			10.346	69.592
12			10.362	69.484
13			10.373	69.410
14			10.391	69.290
15			10.470	68.767
16			10.497	68.591
17			10.504	68.545
18			10.565	68.149
19			10.569	68.123
20			10.966	65.657
21			11.187	64.360

Round 1

The eighteen qualifying cyclists from the preliminary round were paired, 1 vs. 18, 2 vs. 17, and so on, in head-to-head matches, with the winners advancing to the second round and the losers to the first round repechage.^[4]

Heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.607	67.879
2

Heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.672	67.466
2

Heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.828	66.494
2

Heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.742	67.026
2

Heat 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.562	68.168
2

Heat 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.840	66.420
2

Heat 7

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.762	66.902
2

Heat 8

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.786	66.753
2

Heat 9

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.959	65.699
2

First repechage

The nine losers from the first round were put into three three-man matches, with the winner of each advancing to the next round.^[5]

First repechage heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.889	66.121
2
3

First repechage heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.959	65.699
2
3

First repechage heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.965	65.663
2
3

1/8 finals

The twelve cyclists who qualified this far were paired off again in head-to-head sprint matches.^[6]

1/8 final 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.636	67.694
2

1/8 final 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.531	68.369
2

1/8 final 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.888	66.127
2

1/8 final 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.777	66.808
2

1/8 final 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.734	67.706
2

1/8 final 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.763	66.895
2

Second repechage

The six cyclists who lost in the second round were matched into two three-man races, with the winner of each advancing to the next round.^[7]

Second repechage heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			10.570	68.117
2
3

Second repechage heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h	Notes
1			11.010	65.395
2
3

Quarterfinals

The eight cyclists qualified this far were paired for a best two-out-of-three series of 200 metre races. None of the pairings required a third race.^[8]

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.820	10.302
2

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.546	10.595
2

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.689	10.660
2

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.524	10.463
2

Semifinals

The four cyclists qualified this far were paired again for a best two-out-of-three series of races.^[9]

Semifinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.260	10.358
2

Semifinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1			10.594	10.335
2

Finals

The winners from the semifinals were paired to race for gold and silver, and the losers from that round raced for bronze. Each match was again the best two-out-of-three races.^[10]

9th—12th place classification race

During the same session as the semifinals, the four cyclists who were eliminated in the second round repechage were put into a single four-man race to determine exact placings from ninth to twelfth.^[11]

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h
9			11.051	65.152
10
11
12

5th—8th place classification race

In the same session as the finals, the four cyclists who lost in the quarterfinals were put into one four-man 200 metre race to determine exact placings from fifth to eighth.^[12]

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Speed km/h
5			10.719	67.170
6
7
8

Bronze medal match

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
			11.047		10.560
4				10.666

Gold medal match

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
			10.228	10.216

Final classification

Rank	Cyclist	Nation
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sprint, Men . Olympedia . 18 November 2020.
2. Web site: Competition Format - the Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080815125131/http://en.beijing2008.cn/sports/cyclingtrack/n214431064.shtml# . 2008-08-15 . dead .
3. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080825092546/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E1/CTM001900.shtml#CTM001900#CTM001900 . 2008-08-25 . dead .
4. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080822155403/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E2/CTM001800.shtml#CTM001800#CTM001800 . 2008-08-22 . dead .
5. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080907201810/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E3/CTM001850.shtml#CTM001850#CTM001850 . 2008-09-07 . dead .
6. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080822132142/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E2/CTM001400.shtml#CTM001400 . 2008-08-22 .
7. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080820131027/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E3/CTM001450.shtml#CTM001450#CTM001450 . 2008-08-20 . dead .
8. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080822091445/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E4/CTM001300.shtml#CTM001300#CTM001300 . 2008-08-22 . dead .
9. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080829163441/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E4/CTM001200.shtml#CTM001200#CTM001200 . 2008-08-29 . dead .
10. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080824000800/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E4/CTM001100.shtml#CTM001112#CTM001112 . 2008-08-24 . dead .
11. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080907201655/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E5/CTM001104.shtml#CTM001104#CTM001104 . 2008-09-07 . dead .
12. Web site: Cycling - Track Men's Sprint Results - the official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games . 2008-08-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080901034608/http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/CT/C73E5/CTM001103.shtml#CTM001103#CTM001103 . 2008-09-01 . dead .