# Speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres in speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics took place on 20 February, at the Olympic Oval.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Igor Zhelezovsky (URS) | 1:52.50 | Calgary, Canada | 5 December 1987 |
| Olympic record | Eric Heiden (USA) | 1:55.44 | Lake Placid, United States | 21 February 1980 |
The following new World and Olympic records was set during the competition.
| Date | Pair | Athlete | Country | Time | OR | WR |
| 20 February | Pair 1 | Eric Flaim | United States | 1:52.12 | OR | WR |
| 20 February | Pair 3 | André Hoffmann | East Germany | 1:52.06 | OR | WR |

## Results

| Rank | Pair | Lane | Athlete | Country | Time | Time behind | Notes |
| | 3 | o | André Hoffmann | East Germany | 1:52.06 | - | (WR) |
| | 1 | o | Eric Flaim | United States | 1:52.12 | +0.06 | |
| | 4 | o | Michael Hadschieff | Austria | 1:52.31 | +0.25 | |
| 4 | 6 | i | Igor Zhelezovski | Soviet Union | 1:52.63 | +0.57 | |
| 5 | 2 | i | Toru Aoyanagi | Japan | 1:52.85 | +0.79 | |
| 6 | 3 | i | Aleksandr Klimov | Soviet Union | 1:52.97 | +0.91 | |
| 7 | 2 | o | Nikolay Gulyayev | Soviet Union | 1:53.04 | +0.98 | |
| 8 | 8 | o | Peter Adeberg | East Germany | 1:53.57 | +1.51 | |
| 9 | 15 | i | Gaétan Boucher | Canada | 1:54.18 | +2.12 | |
| 10 | 5 | i | Jean Pichett | Canada | 1:54.63 | +2.57 | |
| 11 | 14 | o | Mark Greenwald | United States | 1:54.64 | +2.58 | |
| 12 | 16 | i | Mike Richmond | Australia | 1:54.95 | +2.89 | |
| 13 | 11 | i | Claes Bengtsson | Sweden | 1:55.16 | +3.10 | |
| 14 | 12 | i | Danny Kah | Australia | 1:55.19 | +3.13 | |
| 15 | 10 | i | Dave Silk | United States | 1:55.26 | +3.20 | |
| 16 | 6 | o | Munehisa Kuroiwa | Japan | 1:55.42 | +3.36 | |
| 17 | 11 | i | Im Ri-Bin | North Korea | 1:55.55 | +3.49 | |
| 18 | 16 | o | Ben Lamarche | Canada | 1:55.59 | +3.53 | |
| 19 | 20 | i | Hans van Helden | France | 1:55.61 | +3.55 | |
| 20 | 18 | o | John Baskfield | United States | 1:55.88 | +3.82 | |
| 21 | 5 | o | Rolf Falk-Larssen | Norway | 1:55.94 | +3.88 | |
| 22 | 20 | o | Yoshiyuki Shimizu | Japan | 1:55.98 | +3.92 | |
| 23 | 14 | i | Gregor Jelonek | Canada | 1:56.37 | +4.31 | |
| 24 | 13 | o | Hans Magnusson | Sweden | 1:56.44 | +4.38 | |
| 25 | 8 | i | Pertti Niittylä | Finland | 1:56.48 | +4.42 | |
| 26 | 4 | i | Hwang Ik-hwan | South Korea | 1:56.50 | +4.44 | |
| 27 | 1 | i | Hein Vergeer | Netherlands | 1:56.63 | +4.57 | |
| 28 | 19 | o | Hozumi Moriyama | Japan | 1:56.84 | +4.78 | |
| 29 | 17 | i | Kim Gwan-gyu | South Korea | 1:56.85 | +4.79 | |
| 30 | 9 | i | Hansjörg Baltes | West Germany | 1:57.08 | +5.02 | |
| 31 | 10 | o | Liu Yanfei | China | 1:57.38 | +5.32 | |
| 32 | 18 | i | Phillip Tahmindjis | Australia | 1:57.63 | +5.57 | |
| 33 | 9 | o | Frode Syvertsen | Norway | 1:58.37 | +6.31 | |
| 34 | 19 | i | Jiří Kyncl | Czechoslovakia | 1:58.44 | +6.38 | |
| 35 | 7 | i | Andrey Bobrov | Soviet Union | 1:58.97 | +6.91 | |
| 36 | 17 | o | Jerzy Dominik | Poland | 1:59.03 | +6.97 | |
| 37 | 13 | i | Julian Green | Great Britain | 1:59.41 | +7.35 | |
| 38 | 11 | i | Craig McNicoll | Great Britain | 2:01.89 | +9.83 | |
| 39 | 15 | o | Behudin Merdović | Yugoslavia | 2:06.11 | +14.05 | |
| - | 7 | o | Joakim Karlberg | Sweden | DNF |