1,000 metres Time Trial, Men

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. But the slow asphalt surface on the Herne Hill Velodrome kept the cyclists far slower than those times. Dupont won the event easily in 1:13.5, a full second faster than the silver medalist, Belgium’s Pierre Nihant. Dupont was only 20 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.