The men's cycling sprint at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at the London Velopark from 4 to 6 August. There were 17 competitors from 17 nations, with nations once again limited to one cyclist each (the limit had fluctuated between one and two since 1928). The event was won by Jason Kenny of Great Britain, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's sprint. Kenny was the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. Kenny beat Grégory Baugé of France in the final. Australia's Shane Perkins took bronze.
Background
This was the 25th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Two of the quarterfinalists from 2008 returned: silver medalist Jason Kenny of Great Britain and eighth-place finisher Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia. The favorite was Grégory Baugé of France, the four-time world champion (2009–2012). The British team, which had both of the finalists at the 2008 Beijing Games (Kenny and champion Chris Hoy), had to choose one because of the rule change that limited nations to one cyclist; Kenny, who had taken silver in the 2011 and 2012 world championships, was selected over Hoy, who had taken bronze in those years. (Baugé's 2011 title was later stripped due to missed doping tests, retroactively elevating Kenny and Hoy to world champion and runner-up). Kenny had never beaten Baugé head-to-head.
No nations made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 25th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.
Qualification
There were 18 quota places available for the men's sprint, with a maximum of one cyclist per nation. The 10 nations qualified for the team sprint event could each enter one member of the team in the individual sprint. The other eight places went to the top eight remaining nations on the 2010–12 UCI rankings not yet qualified.
Competition format
The event was a single-elimination tournament, with repechages after the first two rounds, after seeding via time trial. The time trial involved an 875-metre distance, but with only the last 200 metres timed. All other races were 750 metres (three laps of the track) with side-by-side starts, with time kept for the last 200 metres. The first two main rounds featured single head-to-head races, with winners advancing and losers competing in repechages. Repechage races were contested by up to 3 cyclists. Beginning with the quarterfinals, each match pitted two cyclists against each other in best-of-three races.
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.
Jason Kenny set a new Olympic record of 9.713 seconds in the qualifying round.
Schedule
All times are (British Summer Time)
Date Time Round Saturday, 4 August 2012 10:0011:0116:0016:3517:3418:30 Qualifying roundRound 1First repechage1/8 finalsSecond repechageClassification 9–12 Sunday, 5 August 2012 16:3418:47 QuarterfinalsClassification 5–8 Monday, 6 August 2012 16:0017:43 SemifinalsBronze medal matchFinal
Results
Qualifying round
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes1 Jason Kenny 9.71374.127 , 2 Grégory Baugé 9.95272.347 3 Shane Perkins 9.98772.093 4 Robert Förstemann 10.07271.485 5 Denis Dmitriev 10.08871.371 6 Hersony Canelón 10.12371.125 7 Seiichiro Nakagawa 10.14470.977 8 Zhang Miao 10.15570.901 9 Eddie Dawkins 10.20170.581 10 Njisane Phillip 10.20270.574 11 Azizulhasni Awang 10.22670.408 12 Jimmy Watkins 10.24770.264 13 Pavel Kelemen 10.31169.828 14 Damian Zieliński 10.32369.747 15 Bernard Esterhuizen 10.35069.565 16 Hodei Mazquiarán 10.60467.898 17 Zafeiris Volikakis 10.66367.523
Round 1
Heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Grégory Baugé — Zafeiris Volikakis
Heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Shane Perkins 10.722 67.151 2 Hodei Mazquiarán
Heat 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Robert Förstemann 11.100 64.864 2 Bernard Esterhuizen
Heat 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Denis Dmitriev 10.690 67.352 2 Damian Zieliński
Heat 5
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Pavel Kelemen 10.840 66.420 2 Hersony Canelón
Heat 6
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jimmy Watkins 10.399 69.237 2 Seiichiro Nakagawa
Heat 7
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Azizulhasni Awang 10.473 68.748 2 Zhang Miao
Heat 8
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Njisane Phillip 10.221 70.443 2 Eddie Dawkins
First repechage
First repechage heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Hersony Canelón 10.439 68.972 2 Eddie Dawkins
First repechage heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Seiichiro Nakagawa 10.792 66.716 2 Damian Zieliński
First repechage heat 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Bernard Esterhuizen 10.762 66.902 2 Hodei Mazquiarán 3 Zhang Miao
1/8 finals
1/8 final 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.363 69.477 2 Bernard Esterhuizen
1/8 final 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Grégory Baugé 10.490 68.636 2 Seiichiro Nakagawa
1/8 final 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Shane Perkins 10.978 65.585 2 Hersony Canelón
1/8 final 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Njisane Phillip 10.467 2 Robert Förstemann
1/8 final 5
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Denis Dmitriev 10.278 70.052 2 Azizulhasni Awang
1/8 final 6
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jimmy Watkins 10.511 68.499 2 Pavel Kelemen
Second repechage
Second repechage heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Robert Förstemann 10.881 66.170 2 Pavel Kelemen 3 Bernard Esterhuizen
Second repechage heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Azizulhasni Awang 10.456 68.859 2 Hersony Canelón 3 Seiichiro Nakagawa
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.433 10.030 2 Azizulhasni Awang
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Grégory Baugé 10.472 10.300 2 Robert Förstemann
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Shane Perkins 10.520 10.263 2 Jimmy Watkins
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Njisane Phillip 10.545 10.300 2 Denis Dmitriev
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.159 10.166 2 Njisane Phillip
Semifinal 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Grégory Baugé 10.358 10.268 2 Shane Perkins
Finals
Classification 9—12
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h 9 Seiichiro Nakagawa 10.950 65.753 10 Pavel Kelemen 11 Bernard Esterhuizen 12 Hersony Canelón
Classification 5—8
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h 5 Denis Dmitriev 10.340 69.632 6 Jimmy Watkins 7 Robert Förstemann 8 Azizulhasni Awang
Bronze medal match
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Shane Perkins 10.489 10.297 4 Njisane Phillip
Gold medal match
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Jason Kenny 10.232 10.308 Grégory Baugé
Notes
The first round was meant to have 9 heats, with a total of 18 riders. However, due to a rider from the Netherlands withdrawing from the competition the first round had 17 riders with Jason Kenny receiving a bye and therefore automatically qualifying for the next round. Because there was 17 competitors rather than 18, Christos Volikakis, who qualified in 17th place thought that he did not qualify and the competition was switched to a 16 rider format, resulting in him leaving the competition. This was not the case, and therefore Grégory Baugé also qualified automatically. Despite qualifying automatically, both riders had to ride half a lap of the track to qualify.
Final classification
Rank Cyclist Nation Jason Kenny Grégory Baugé Shane Perkins 4 Njisane Phillip 5 Denis Dmitriev 6 Jimmy Watkins 7 Robert Förstemann 8 Azizulhasni Awang 9 Seiichiro Nakagawa 10 Pavel Kelemen 11 Bernard Esterhuizen 12 Hersony Canelón 13 Zhang Miao 14 Eddie Dawkins 15 Damian Zieliński 16 Hodei Mazquiarán 17 Zafeiris Volikakis
References