The men's sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

took place on August 19 at the Laoshan Velodrome

Laoshan Velodrome

The Laoshan Velodrome is a velodrome that is located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China. It was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The venue was tested during the UCI Track World Cup in December 2007....

.

This track cycling

Track cycling

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....

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.

Preliminaries

200 metre time trial, with the top 18 riders advancing.

Rank	Rider	Time	Average Speed (km/h)
1		9.815 OR	73.357
2		9.857	73.044
3		10.064	71.542
4		10.098	71.301
5		10.123	71.125
6		10.199	70.595
7		10.272	70.093
8		10.314	69.808
9		10.318	69.780
10		10.337	69.652
11		10.346	69.592
12		10.362	69.484
13		10.373	69.410
14		10.391	69.290
15		10.470	68.767
16		10.497	68.591
17		10.504	68.545
18		10.565	68.149
19		10.569	68.123
20		10.966	65.657
21		11.187	64.360

First round

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

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.607	67.879

Match 2

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.672	67.466

Match 3

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.828	66.494

Match 4

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.742	67.026

Match 5

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.562	68.168

Match 6

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.840	66.420

Match 7

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.762	66.902

Match 8

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.786	66.753

Match 9

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.959	65.699

First round repechage

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

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.889	66.121

Match 2

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.959	65.699

Match 3

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.965	65.663

Second round

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)
	10.636	67.694

Match 2

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.531	68.369

Match 3

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.888	66.127

Match 4

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.777	66.808

Match 5

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.734	67.706

Match 6

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.763	66.895

Second round repechage

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.
Match 1

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	10.570	68.117

Match 2

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)
	11.010	65.395

Quarterfinals

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.
Match 1

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.820	10.302

Match 2

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.546	10.595

Match 3

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.689	10.660

Match 4

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.524	10.463

Semifinals

The four cyclists qualified this far were paired again for a best two-out-of-three series of 200 metre races.
Match 1

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.260	10.358

Match 2

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)
	10.594	10.335

9th—12th place classification race

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

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)	Rank
	11.051	65.152	9
			10
			11
			12

Finals

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

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)	Time (Race 3)	Rank
	11.047		10.560
		10.666		4

Gold medal match

Name	Time (Race 1)	Time (Race 2)	Rank
	10.228	10.216

5th—8th place classification race

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

Name	Time	Average speed (km/h)	Rank
	10.719	67.170	5
			6
			7
			8