The Individual Sprint was held on the first fashionable Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. It was then held sporadically, in 1900 and 1908, till returning as a mainstay for males’s observe competitors in 1920. The girls’s dash was the primary observe occasion held for girls within the Olympic Games, added on the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
This traditional, quick distance race begins with 200m time trials to arrange brackets of certified riders, adopted by knockout heats pitting two riders in opposition to one another for 3 laps to succeed in the finals.
The first section is qualifying, which consists of a flying begin with a build-up of two-and-a-half laps and official time taken within the ultimate 200 metres, indicated to racers and spectators by the white line drawn throughout the observe for the ultimate part. And it’s not simply in regards to the end line, however on the build-up laps these riders can use all the actual property of the observe itself, many instances staying excessive on the banking to make use of the descent to realize velocity.
These instances decide the seeding of the 30 starters, with the quickest 24 riders progressing to extra ‘knockout’ phases to whittle down the competitors to the highest 4 to contest for 3 medals. It sounds complicated, nevertheless it turns into a progressive collection of head-to-head showdowns of a quicker rider versus a slower.
The 1/32 section begins with the number-one seed going through the number-24 seed, the number-two seed faces the number-23 seed and so forth. The 12 winners advance to the following spherical, whereas the losers from every warmth might be despatched to a “repechage” spherical and are given one other alternative to succeed in the 1/16 spherical. Each repechage will function three riders. The winner of every of the 4 repechage heats will advance to the 1/16 spherical.
These 16 riders transfer to the third knockout spherical, known as the 1/8 section, and the two-rider races are a best-of-three engagement till the sphere is decreased to eight for the quarterfinal and on to the ultimate 4. At that time, the 2 semi-final winners race for gold and silver, whereas the semi-final losers journey for the ultimate bronze.
The phrase ‘dash’ signifies blazing speeds and that’s evident within the closing 200 metres of every contest, however many instances a dash race is usually a slow-motion check of ways. It was widespread to see a rider on the entrance of this two-person showdown come to an entire standstill on the observe, or a ‘observe stand’ however the guidelines solely enable riders to carry the race to a cease twice. This is the cat-and-mouse tactic to lure an opponent to the entrance, because the second-placed rider has a bonus with drafting, then utilizing the slipstream to rocket throughout the end line first.
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History
Australia’s Anna Meares received a medal within the Sprint at three Olympic Games (Image credit score: Getty Images)
The males’s world title was first contested in 1895 and was solely interrupted in 1939. As a rustic, France leads the best way with 84 whole medals throughout this time, greater than double the following closest nations of Netherlands and Italy with 37 every. Japan’s Koichi Nakano received 10 consecutive dash crowns between 1977-1986.
Daniel Morelon of France has received essentially the most Olympic medals within the Individual Sprint for males with 4, two gold in 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich, one silver in 1976 Montreal, and one bronze in 1964 Tokyo.
For the ladies within the Olympic Games, Australia and Great Britain have amassed 4 whole medals every within the Individual Sprint. Aussie Anna Meares leads the best way with one medal in every color – bronze in 2004 Athens, silver in 2008 Beijing and gold in 2012 London.
