Cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's track time trial

The men's track time trial at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, was held on 31 August 1972. There were 31 participants from 31 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist. One additional cyclist was entered but did not start.[1] The event was won by Niels Fredborg of Denmark, the nation's first victory in the men's track time trial since Willy Hansen won in 1928. Denmark tied Italy and Australia for second-most gold medals in the event at 2 (behind Italy at 3). Fredborg was just the third man to win multiple medals in the event; he would become the only one to earn a third, in 1976. Daniel Clark's silver medal was Australia's first medal in the event since 1952. Jürgen Schütze's bronze was the first track time trial medal for East Germany as a separate nation.

Men's track time trial
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Niels Fredborg (1967)
VenueOlympic Velodrome, Munich
Date31 August 1972
Competitors31 from 31 nations
Winning time1:06.44
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Niels Fredborg
 Denmark
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Daniel Clark
 Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Jürgen Schütze
 East Germany
← 1968
1976 →

Background edit

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which had previously been held in 1896 and every Games since 1928. It would be held every Games until being dropped from the programme after 2004. All three of the medalists from 1968 returned (gold medalist Pierre Trentin of France, silver medalist Niels Fredborg of Denmark, and [[bronze medalist Janusz Kierzkowski of Poland), along with seventh-place finisher Jocelyn Lovell of Canada. Fredborg had also won the 1967, 1968, and 1970 world championships; he was the favorite to win the Olympic competition this time. The 1971 world champion, Eduard Rapp of the Soviet Union, was also competing.[2]

The Bahamas and Iran each made their debut in the men's track time trial. France and Great Britain each made their 11th appearance, having competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format edit

The event was a time trial on the track, with each cyclist competing separately to attempt to achieve the fastest time. Each cyclist raced one kilometre from a standing start.[2][3]

Records edit

The following were the world and Olympic records prior to the competition.

World record   Pierre Trentin (FRA) 1:03.91 Mexico City, Mexico 17 October 1968
Olympic record   Pierre Trentin (FRA) 1:03.91 Mexico City, Mexico 17 October 1968

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

Schedule edit

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 31 August 1972 20:00 Final

Results edit

Rank Cyclist Nation 428 m 713 m Time Speed
(km/h)
  Niels Fredborg   Denmark 30.29 47.76 1:06.44 54.184
  Daniel Clark   Australia 30.00 47.95 1:06.87 53.835
  Jürgen Schütze   East Germany 29.98 47.67 1:07.02 53.715
4 Karl Köther   West Germany 30.65 48.46 1:07.21 53.563
5 Janusz Kierzkowski   Poland 29.82 47.82 1:07.22 53.555
6 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria 30.09 48.15 1:07.55 53.293
7 Christian Brunner   Switzerland 29.30 47.38 1:07.71 53.167
8 Eduard Rapp   Soviet Union 29.74 47.75 1:07.73 53.152
9 Ezio Cardi   Italy 30.32 48.31 1:07.80 53.097
10 Pierre Trentin   France 30.51 48.59 1:07.85 53.058
11 Peter van Doorn   Netherlands 30.45 48.24 1:08.09 52.871
12 Steven Woznick   United States 30.20 48.72 1:08.56 52.508
13 Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 31.06 49.17 1:08.78 52.340
14 Robert Maveau   Belgium 30.10 48.60 1:08.94 52.219
15 Jocelyn Lovell   Canada 30.81 49.33 1:09.03 52.151
16 Harry Kent   New Zealand 30.60 48.98 1:09.10 52.098
17 Michael Bennett   Great Britain 31.03 49.81 1:09.45 51.835
18 Harald Bundli   Norway 30.78 49.84 1:09.72 51.635
19 Leslie King   Trinidad and Tobago 31.07 49.70 1:09.96 51.457
20 Takafumi Matsuda   Japan 30.56 49.04 1:10.00 51.428
21 Fernando Jiménez   Argentina 30.61 49.24 1:10.30 51.209
22 Neville Hunte   Guyana 31.49 50.04 1:10.48 51.078
23 Jairo Rodríguez   Colombia 31.71 50.42 1:10.86 50.804
24 Arturo Cambroni   Mexico 31.48 50.47 1:11.54 50.321
25 Suriya Chiarasapawong   Thailand 32.00 51.38 1:12.53 49.634
26 Howard Fenton   Jamaica 30.85 50.54 1:12.64 49.559
27 Shue Ming-fa   Chinese Taipei 31.77 51.67 1:14.05 48.615
28 Behrouz Rahbar   Iran 33.04 53.35 1:15.39 47.751
29 Daud Ibrahim   Malaysia 32.88 53.53 1:16.27 47.200
30 Laurence Burnside   Bahamas 33.53 55.39 1:20.31 44.826
Hector Edwards   Barbados DNF
Ahmed Abdussal Gariani   Lebanon DNS

References edit

  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 1000m time trial". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b "1,000 metres Time Trial, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 214.

External links edit