[2] The event was won by Léon Flameng of France, with Georgios Kolettis of Greece coming in second.

From 1896 to 1924 (excluding 1912, when no track events were held), the track cycling programme included events at a variety of distances that changed from Games to Games and ranged from the 1⁄4-mile to the 100 kilometres (and, even longer, the unique 12 hours race in 1896 that saw finishers exceed 300 kilometres).

However, one of the two Frenchmen (Paul Masson) did not start the race and instead served as pacemaker for the other (Léon Flameng).

The day was very cold with a bitter wind that was not significantly affected by the low walls around the velodrome.

Léon Flameng stopped and waited for Georgio's bike to be repaired before continuing to race.