Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint
Men's Sprint
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad |
| Venue |
Laoshan Velodrome |
| Dates |
August 17 (preliminaries—2nd round)
August 18 (quarterfinals—final) |
| Competitors |
21 from 15 nations |
| Winning time |
10.228/10.216 |
| Medalists |
|
|
| «2004 |
|
The men's sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 19 at the Laoshan Velodrome.
This track cycling event consisted of numerous rounds. The competition began with a time trial over 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.
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.[1]
Preliminaries
[2]200 metre time trial, with the top 18 riders advancing.
First round
[3]The eighteen qualifying cyclists from the preliminary round were paired, 1 vs. 18, 2 vs. 17, and so on, in head-to-head 200 metre matches, with the winners advancing to the second round and the losers to the first round repechage.
- Match 1
|
- Match 2
| Name |
Time |
Average speed (km/h) |
| Jason Kenny (GBR) |
10.672 |
67.466 |
| Łukasz Kwiatkowski (POL) |
|
|
|
- Match 9
First round repechage
[4]The nine losers from the first round were put into three three-man 200 metre matches, with the winner of each advancing to the next round.
- Match 1
|
- Match 2
|
- Match 3
| Name |
Time |
Average speed (km/h) |
| Kazunari Watanabe (JPN) |
10.965 |
65.663 |
| Michael Blatchford (USA) |
|
|
| Lei Zhang (CHN) |
|
|
|
Second round
[5] The twelve cyclists who qualified this far were paired off again in head-to-head sprint matches,
- Match 1
| Name |
Time |
Average speed (km/h) |
| Chris Hoy (GBR) |
10.636 |
67.694 |
| Kazunari Watanabe (JPN) |
|
|
|
- Match 2
|
Second round repechage
[6]The six cyclists who lost in the second round were matched into two three-man 200 metre races, with the winner of each advancing to the next round.
Quarterfinals
[7]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.
Semifinals
[8]The four cyclists qualified this far were paired again for a best two-out-of-three series of 200 metre races.
9th—12th place classification race
[9] 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 200 metre race to determine exact placings from ninth to twelfth.
- Classification race
Finals
[10]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 200 metre races.
- Bronze medal match
- Gold medal match
5th—8th place classification race
[11]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.
- Classification race
References