333⅓ metres Time Trial, Men

Paul Masson was not related to the Paul Masson who started the famous wine company. Masson had won a number of races in France since 1894 and was well known. In 1894 he had won a major international race against 12 rivals over 5,000 metres which had been organized by the Union Vélocipédique de France. He attempted to take part in the World Championships in 1895 but his entry was not accepted. At the end of the year, after winning races in Ostend and Antwerp, he was finally admitted to the French national team.

After the Olympics Masson turned professional, adopting the name Paul Nossam (Masson spelled backwards). His only significant performance as Paul Nossam was third in the world professional sprint championship in 1897.

Stamatios Nikolopoulos and Adolf Schmal tied for 2nd initially with the same time of 26 seconds. In a race-off for second place, Nikolopoulos won the final medal position with a time 25 2/5 seconds versus 26 3/5 for Schmal.