The men's sprint at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro took place on 12–14 August 2016. There were 27 competitors from 16 nations, as once again nations were allowed to enter up to two cyclists (the limit had fluctuated between one and two since 1928). The event was won by Jason Kenny of Great Britain, successfully defending his gold from 2012 and making it the third straight Games that Great Britain was atop the podium for the sprint. Kenny was the third man to win two consecutive gold medals in the sprint, fourth man to win two golds at any point, and third man to win three medals of any color. He beat his teammate Callum Skinner in the final; it was the second time in three Games that Great Britain had both the top spots—and potentially could have been the third if nations had not been limited to a single cyclist in 2012. Denis Dmitriev earned Russia's first men's sprint medal with his bronze.
The medals were presented by Barry Maister, IOC member, New Zealand and David Lappartient, Vice President of the UCI.
Background
This was the 26th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Four of the quarterfinalists from 2012 returned: gold medalist (and 2008 silver medalist) Jason Kenny of Great Britain, silver medalist Grégory Baugé of France, fourth-place finisher Njisane Phillip of Trinidad and Tobago, and fifth-place finisher Denis Dmitriev of Russia. Baugé had won the 2015 world championship (adding to his 2009–12 run, though the 2011 title had been stripped from him) and Dmitriev had been a fixture on the world championships podium throughout the four years since the last Games. Kenny had struggled for much of that period, but had a strong 2016 including a victory over Matthew Glaetzer of Australia in the 2016 worlds final.
No nations made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 26th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.
Qualification
There were 27 quota places available for the sprint. The nine nations qualified for the team sprint event could enter two members of the team in the individual sprint. The other nine places were assigned to nations based on the 2014–16 UCI track rankings, with one place for each of the top nine nations not qualified through team sprint.
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.
Callum Skinner set a new Olympic record of 9.703 seconds in the qualifying round, but Jason Kenny regained the record with his time of 9.551. Matthew Glaetzer also finished under the old record time.
Schedule
All times are Brasília Time (UTC−03:00)
Date Time Round Friday, 12 August 2016 16:1417:3018:08 Qualifying roundRound 1First repechage Saturday, 13 August 2016 10:2311:0716:0016:1817:4118:17 1/8 finalsSecond repechageQuarterfinalsClassification 9–12SemifinalsClassification 5–8 Sunday, 14 August 2016 17:04 Bronze medal matchFinal
Results
Qualifying round
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes1 Jason Kenny 9.55175.384 , OR2 Callum Skinner 9.70374.203 , 3 Matthew Glaetzer 9.70474.196 4 Denis Dmitriev 9.77473.664 5 Grégory Baugé 9.80773.416 6 Njisane Phillip 9.81373.372 7 Damian Zieliński 9.82373.297 8 Jeffrey Hoogland 9.83773.193 9 Sam Webster 9.88072.874 10 Edward Dawkins 9.89572.764 11 François Pervis 9.89872.741 12 Joachim Eilers 9.90872.668 13 Xu Chao 9.93972.441 14 Pavel Kelemen 9.96972.223 15 Rafał Sarnecki 9.98072.144 16 Fabián Puerta 9.98172.137 17 Patrick Constable 10.01071.928 18 Maximilian Levy 10.03571.748 19 Juan Peralta Gascon 10.05571.60620 Kang Dong-jin 10.09271.34321 Theo Bos 10.14071.00522 Im Chae-bin 10.14770.95623 Santiago Ramírez 10.19970.59524 Hersony Canelón 10.23970.31925 Seiichiro Nakagawa 10.24170.30526 Nikita Shurshin 10.41869.11127 César Marcano 10.64967.611
Was also an Olympic record until superseded by Jason Kenny
Round 1
Heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.245 70.278 2 Maximilian Levy +0.066
Heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Callum Skinner 10.254 70.216 2 Patrick Constable +0.071
Heat 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Matthew Glaetzer 10.299 69.909 2 Fabián Puerta +0.058
Heat 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Denis Dmitriev 10.141 70.998 2 Rafał Sarnecki +0.036
Heat 5
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Grégory Baugé 10.214 70.491 2 Pavel Kelemen +0.050
Heat 6
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Xu Chao 10.373 69.410 2 Njisane Phillip +0.145
Heat 7
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Joachim Eilers 10.428 69.044 2 Damian Zieliński +0.041
Heat 8
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jeffrey Hoogland 10.181 70.719 2 François Pervis +0.052
Heat 9
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Sam Webster 10.159 70.873 2 Edward Dawkins +0.150
First repechage
First repechage heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Maximilian Levy 10.356 69.524 2 Edward Dawkins +0.024 3 Njisane Phillip +1.429
First repechage heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Patrick Constable 10.363 69.477 2 Damian Zieliński +0.028 3 Pavel Kelemen +0.378
First repechage heat 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Fabián Puerta 10.272 70.093 2 Rafał Sarnecki +0.086 3 François Pervis +0.607
1/8 finals
1/8 final 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.369 69.437 2 Fabián Puerta +0.109
1/8 final 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Callum Skinner 10.359 69.504 2 Patrick Constable +0.021
1/8 final 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Matthew Glaetzer 10.166 70.824 2 Maximilian Levy +0.059
1/8 final 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Denis Dmitriev 10.102 71.273 2 Sam Webster +0.142
1/8 final 5
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Grégory Baugé 10.103 71.265 2 Jeffrey Hoogland +0.121
1/8 final 6
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Joachim Eilers 10.449 68.906 2 Xu Chao +0.058
Second repechage
Second repechage heat 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Xu Chao 10.753 66.958 2 Sam Webster +0.048 3 Fabián Puerta +0.181
Second repechage heat 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h Notes 1 Patrick Constable 10.456 68.859 2 Maximilian Levy +0.100 3 Jeffrey Hoogland +0.118
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Jason Kenny 10.341 10.219 2 Patrick Constable +0.194 +0.258
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Callum Skinner 10.299 10.212 2 Xu Chao +0.122 +0.200
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Matthew Glaetzer 10.456 10.401 2 Joachim Eilers +0.084 +0.049
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Denis Dmitriev 10.202 10.166 2 Grégory Baugé +0.063 +0.213
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Jason Kenny +0.043 10.048 10.071 2 Denis Dmitriev 10.139 +0.032 +0.302
Semifinal 2
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes 1 Callum Skinner 10.119 10.244 2 Matthew Glaetzer +0.046 +0.057
Finals
Classification 9—12
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h 9 Maximilian Levy 10.275 70.072 10 Fabián Puerta +0.067 11 Jeffrey Hoogland +0.126 12 Sam Webster +0.329
Classification 5—8
Rank Cyclist Nation Time200 m Speedkm/h 5 Joachim Eilers 10.525 68.408 6 Xu Chao +0.036 7 Grégory Baugé +0.153 8 Patrick Constable +0.215
Bronze medal match
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Denis Dmitriev 10.105 10.190 4 Matthew Glaetzer +0.072 +0.044
Gold medal match
Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Jason Kenny 10.164 9.916 Callum Skinner +0.113 +0.086
Final classification
Rank Cyclist Nation Jason Kenny Callum Skinner Denis Dmitriev 4 Matthew Glaetzer 5 Joachim Eilers 6 Xu Chao 7 Grégory Baugé 8 Patrick Constable 9 Maximilian Levy 10 Fabián Puerta 11 Jeffrey Hoogland 12 Sam Webster 13 Njisane Phillip 14 Damian Zieliński 15 Edward Dawkins 16 François Pervis 17 Pavel Kelemen 18 Rafał Sarnecki 19 Juan Peralta Gascon 20 Kang Dong-jin 21 Theo Bos 22 Im Chae-bin 23 Santiago Ramírez 24 Hersony Canelón 25 Seiichiro Nakagawa 26 Nikita Shurshin 27 César Marcano
References