| Date | 11 August 1948 — 17:00 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Herne Hill Velodrome, London |
| Participants | 21 from 21 countries |
The official world record was 1:10.0, set by Fabio Battesini in 1938. However, Jacques Dupont (FRA) had an unofficial time of 1:08.6 set at the Bordeaux track, on a track sheltered by the stands. However, the slow asphalt surface on the Herne Hill Velodrome kept the cyclists far slower than those times.
Dupont won this event easily in 1:13.5, a full second faster than the silver medalist, Belgium’s Pierre Nihant. Dupont was only 20-years-old but was the French champion in both the time-trial and the individual pursuit. Shortly after the Olympics, he would place second in the individual pursuit World Championships. He then joined the professional peloton, and would win Paris-Tours in 1951 and 1955, the Circuit de l’Indre in 1952 and 1954, and was French national champion on the road in 1954.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacques Dupont | FRA | 1:13.5 | Gold | ||
| 2 | Pierre Nihant | BEL | 1:14.5 | Silver | ||
| 3 | Tommy Godwin | GBR | 1:15.0 | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Hans Flückiger | SUI | 1:15.3 | |||
| 5 | Axel Schandorff | DEN | 1:15.5 | |||
| 6 | Sid Patterson | AUS | 1:15.7 | |||
| 7 | Jack Heid | USA | 1:16.2 | |||
| 8 | Walter Freitag | AUT | 1:16.8 | |||
| 9 | Gino Guerra | ITA | 1:17.1 | |||
| 10 | Onni Kasslin | FIN | 1:17.4 | |||
| 11 | Carlos Tramútolo | URU | 1:17.5 | |||
| 12 | Theo Blankenaauw | NED | 1:17.7 | |||
| 13 | Jorge Sobrevila | ARG | 1:17.9 | |||
| 14 | Julio César León | VEN | 1:18.1 | |||
| 15 | Lorne Atkinson | CAN | 1:20.2 | |||
| =16 | Compton Gonsalves | TTO | 1:21.5 | |||
| =16 | Reinaldo Paseiro | CUB | 1:21.5 | |||
| 18 | Adolfo Romero | MEX | 1:22.7 | |||
| 19 | R. R. Noble | IND | 1:22.9 | |||
| 20 | Wazir Ali | PAK | 1:24.8 | |||
| 21 | Laddie Lewis | GUY | 1:25.0 |