1,500 metres, Men

After their performances in the 1,000 m, Nikolay Gulyayev (gold) and Igor Zhelezovsky were considered the favorites for the 1,500 m title. Both skaters had recently held the world record in the event, Gulyayev bettering it to 1:52.70 at the 1987 World Championships and Zhelezovsky lowering it to 1:52.50 at the December 1987 World Cup on the Olympic rink in Calgary. Gulyayev had also won one World Cup during the season, in Innsbruck. But the leader in the 1,500 m World Cup standings was André Hoffmann, who had not been very successful until the start of the season, when he won the first two World Cups. Also performing well in recent races were Eric Flaim and Michael Hadschieff, who had placed fourth and sixth in the Olympic 1,000 m.

The competition started with Flaim breaking the world record, taking off 0.38 seconds and setting it at 1:52.12. But while that time was easily faster than Gulyayev, the record lasted only for a few minutes. André Hoffmann started much faster than the American, leading by half a second at the bell. Hoffmann faded somewhat in the final lap, but an advantage of 0.06 seconds remained: 1:52.06. This time proved too fast to beat, even for Hadschieff (1:52.31) and Zhelezovsky (1:52.63).

For Hoffmann, his Olympic title would remain his most important feat. Eric Flaim, by contrast, would close out the season by becoming World Allround Champion. In 1994, he would win a second Olympic silver medal, this time in short track speed skating, becoming the first Olympian to medal in these two sports. Michael Hadschieff’s bronze medal was the first for Austria in speed skating since the 1936 Winter Games.