Battle of Honey Springs

Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Road cycling
Road race	men
Track cycling
Time trial	men
Sprint	men
10 km	men
100 km	men
12 hour	men

The men's sprint was one of the five track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. It was held on 11 April as the second event on the schedule. It was held over the distance of 2 kilometres, or six laps of the track. The event was won by Paul Masson of France, with his teammate Léon Flameng earning bronze. Stamatios Nikolopoulos of Greece took silver

Background

This was the first appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912.^[1]

Competition format

The event featured a single race, with all four competitors starting together. The distance was 2 kilometres, or six laps around the 1⁄3 kilometre track.^[1][2]

Schedule

The exact time of the event is not known; the cycling events began shortly after 2 p.m. and the sprint was the first event.

Results

The race was very slow and tactical, with no pacemakers: Rosemeyer was forced to retire after having mechanical problems.

Masson broke away late to beat Nikolopoulos by 15 meters, and Flameng finished well back in third.

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time
	Paul Masson	France	4:58.2
	Stamatios Nikolopoulos	Greece	5:00.2
	Léon Flameng	France	Unknown
—	Joseph Rosemeyer	Germany	DNF

References

• Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at [1])
• Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at [2])
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.