Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 20 kilometres

The men's 20 kilometres was one of seven track cycling events on the Cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the second longest of the individual event distances. Each nation could enter up to 12 cyclists.[1]

Men's 20 kilometres
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DateJuly 14
Competitors44 from 10 nations
Medalists
Clarence Kingsbury  Great Britain
Benjamin Jones  Great Britain
Joseph Werbrouck  Belgium
Cycling at the
1908 Summer Olympics
Track cycling
660 yardsmen
5000 metresmen
20 kilometresmen
100 kilometresmen
Sprintmen
Tandemmen
Team pursuitmen

Competition format

The 20 kilometres in 1908 was a unique race in Olympic history. It was in some ways like a very long sprint but with elements of a points race. Each race consisted of slightly over 33 laps of the 660 yard track. The time limit for the race was 40 minutes. The competition was held in two rounds (semifinals and a final). There were 6 semifinals. The winner of each semifinal advanced to the final, encouraging tactical riding similar to a sprint race despite the long distance. However, for the three fastest semifinals, the cyclist who led for the most laps would also advance. The final comprised 9 cyclists.

Results

Semifinals

There were two methods of qualifying for the final. A cyclist could either finish first in one of the six semifinals or be the leader "of the greatest number of laps in the three fastest heats.[2]"

Semifinal 1

Flynn had a puncture at about the halfway mark.[3]

RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Leon Meredith Great Britain33:21.0Q
2Hermann Martens Germany33:21.2
3Joseph Werbrouck Belgium33:21.4q
4André Lapize FranceUnknown
5Georgius Damen NetherlandsUnknown
6Frederick McCarthy CanadaUnknown
7–8Pierre Hostein FranceUnknown
Rudolf Katzer GermanyUnknown
—Daniel Flynn Great BritainDNF

Semifinal 2
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Clarence Kingsbury Great Britain32:33.8Q
2Charlie Brooks Great Britain32:34.0
3Floris Venter South Africa32:34.4
4Georges Lutz FranceUnknown
5Gerard Bosch van Drakenstein NetherlandsUnknown
6François Bonnet FranceUnknownq
7–9Walter Andrews CanadaUnknown
Jean van Benthem BelgiumUnknown
Paul Schulze GermanyUnknown

Semifinal 3
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Louis Weintz United States33:39.8Q
2Frank Shore South Africa33:40.0
3Harry Young Canada33:45.2
4Herbert Bouffler Great BritainUnknown
5Max Triebsch GermanyUnknown
6–7Henri Cunault FranceUnknown
Dorus Nijland NetherlandsUnknown
—Frederick Hamlin Great BritainDNF

Semifinal 4
RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Benjamin Jones Great Britain32:39.0Q
2George Cameron United States32:39.2
3T. H. E. Passmore South Africa32:39.4
4Octave Lapize FranceUnknownq
5Henri Baumler FranceUnknown
6–7Alwin Boldt GermanyUnknown
Johannes van Spengen NetherlandsUnknown
—W. Lower Great BritainDNF

Semifinal 5

Santorinaios and Texier crashed with half a lap remaining; Robertson was slowed by having to ride around them.[4]

RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Andrew Hansson Sweden34:53.6Q
2David Robertson Great Britain34:53.8
3William Anderson Canada34:55.6
—Ioannis Santorinaios GreeceDNF
Pierre Texier FranceDNF

Semifinal 6

"With nine laps to go, Coeckelberg's tyre punctured, and two laps further on the Belgian was again unlucky. He left the track, cut across the grass, seized another machine, and remounted, but was disqualified."[4]

RankCyclistNationTimeNotes
1Albert Denny Great Britain33:40.6Q
2Charles Avrillon France33:40.8
3Gustaf Westerberg Sweden33:41.4
4Guglielmo Morisetti ItalyUnknown
—Léon Couckelberg BelgiumDSQ

Final

Meredith and Denny suffered punctures early on. Hansson fell near the end. Bonnet led most of the first half of the race. Kingsbury started his sprint shortly after the bell, "hotly challenged" by Jones, Werbrouck, and Weintz for "one of the most exciting finished of the Games, which Kingsbury just won by three inches."[5]

RankCyclistNationTime
Clarence Kingsbury Great Britain34:13.6
Benjamin Jones Great BritainUnknown
Joseph Werbrouck BelgiumUnknown
4Louis Weintz United StatesUnknown
5–9François Bonnet FranceUnknown
Arthur Denny Great BritainUnknown
Andrew Hansson SwedenUnknown
Octave Lapize FranceUnknown
Leon Meredith Great BritainUnknown

Notes
  1. Official Report, p. 33.
  2. Olympic Report, p. 120
  3. Official Report, p. 118.
  4. Official Report, p. 119.
  5. Official Report, p. 120.

Sources
  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Cycling 1908". Accessed 7 April 2006. Available electronically at .
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.