[2] The event was won by Mario Ghella of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's sprint.

Reg Harris of Great Britain, heavily favored coming into the event, finished with silver, the first medal for a British cyclist in the sprint since 1920.

None of the semifinalists from 1936 returned, but Howard Wing of China competed again after the 12-year break occasioned by World War II.

The heavy favorite and host nation hero was 1947 World Champion Reg Harris; his biggest rival, Cor Bijster of the Netherlands, had turned professional and could not compete in the Games.

[2] Cuba, Guyana, India, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela each made their debut in the men's sprint.

This was the first time that the best-of-three format was used for the quarterfinals and semifinals (having been introduced in 1932 for the final and expanded to the bronze medal match in 1936).

[3] Howard Wing from China broke his collar bone after finishing his first round race.

Manthos Kaloudis from Greece, who had arrived late and missed the first round, took his place.

[3] Masanés beat replacement rider Kaloudis by two lengths, with Lewis finishing third.

[4] There was a crash at the very end of the race, with Hijzelendoorn unable to finish and Rocca disqualified.

The delay for the appeal led to 40 minutes of inactivity on the track, which the spectators did not appreciate.

The final distance between the two was increased by Harris easing off to conserve energy for the second race.

Doing so did him little good, however, as in the second race Ghella took the lead and fought off two challenges by Harris in the final two straights.