Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. Three of the quarterfinalists from 2000 returned: fourth-place finisher Laurent Gané of France, sixth-place finisher José Antonio Villanueva of Spain, and seventh-place finisher Sean Eadie of Australia. Three recent world champions were competing: Gané (2003, also runner-up in 2000, 2001, and 2004), Eadie (2002), and Theo Bos of the Netherlands (2004). René Wolff of Germany and Ryan Bayley of Australia were also significant contenders, each having reached the podium at world championships.[2]

For the second consecutive Games, no nations made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 23rd appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

This sprint competition involved a series of head-to-head matches along with the new qualifying round of time trials. There were five main match rounds, with two one-round repechages.[2][3]

• Qualifying round: Each of the 19 competitors completed a 200 metre flying time trial (reaching full speed before timing started for the last 200 metres). The top 18 advanced to the match rounds, seeded based on their time in the qualifying round. With only 19 riders starting, only the slowest cyclist was eliminated; however, one of the qualified riders withdrew, and the 19th-placed rider moved up to 18th and qualified.
• Round 1: The 18 cyclists were seeded into 9 heats of 2 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to the 1/8 finals (9 cyclists) while the other cyclists went to the first repechage (9 cyclists).
• First repechage: The 9 cyclists were divided into 3 heats, each with 3 cyclists. The winner of each heat advanced to the 1/8 finals (3 cyclists) while the losers were eliminated (6 cyclists).
• 1/8 finals: The 12 remaining cyclists competed in a 1/8 finals round. There were 6 heats in this round, with 2 cyclists in each. The winner in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals (6 cyclists), while the loser in each heat went to the second repechage (6 cyclists).
• Second repechage: This round featured 2 heats, with 3 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to the quarterfinals (2 cyclists); the losers competed in a ninth-twelfth classification race.
• Quarterfinals: Beginning with the quarterfinals, all matches were one-on-one competitions and were held in best-of-three format. There were 4 quarterfinals, with the winner of each advancing to the semifinals and the loser going to the fifth-eighth classification race.
• Semifinals: The two semifinals provided for advancement to the gold medal final for winners and to the bronze medal final for losers.
• Finals: Both a gold medal final and a bronze medal final were held, as well as a classification final for fifth through eighth places for quarterfinal losers.

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.

World record	Curt Harnett (CAN)	9.865	Bogotá, Colombia	28 September 1995
Olympic record	Gary Neiwand (AUS)	10.129	Atlanta, United States	24 July 1996

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

• Official Olympic Report