| | Event type

Sprint, Women

Date	21 – 24 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Bel-lo-deu-rom, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul
Participants	12 from 12 countries
Format	1,000 metres.

This was the first track cycling event for women at the Olympics. Women had contested the match sprint at the World Championships since 1958, and a number of outstanding women cyclists never had the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. Notable among these were Galina Yermolayeva (URS), six-time World Champion, who won 14 medals in the event between 1958-73; American Sheila Young, Olympic speed skating champion who was World Champion in 1973, 1976, and 1981; and Soviet Galina Tsareva, World Champion from 1977-79.

Coming into Seoul, the three dominant female sprinters of the 80s had been American Connie Paraskevin-Young, sister-in-law of Sheila Young and World Champion in 1982-84, and again in 1990; Soviet/Estonian sprinter Erika Salumäe, World Champion in 1987 and again in 1989; and Christa Luding-Rothenburger, East German World Champion in 1986 and runner-up to Salumae in 1987. Both Paraskevin-Young and Luding-Rothenburger had competed at the Olympics in speed skating – Paraskevin-Young in 1984, while Luding-Rothenburger had competed in speed skating in both 1984 and 1988, and won a gold medal in the 1,000 metres in 1988. In the end, the three favorites would win the medals. In the first semi, Salumäe defeated Paraskevin-Young in two straight races. Luding-Rothenburger had more trouble in her semi, needing three races to get past France’s Isabelle Gautheron. With that victory, Luding-Rothenburger made Olympic history, guaranteeing she would become the first woman to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. The final went to Salumäe in three races, after Luding-Rothenburger had won the first race. Salumäe would return in 1992 to defend her title, then representing Estonia, a historic victory for her renascent nation.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Qualifying	R1	R1 Rep	QF	SF	Final
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	11.527 (1)	12.83 (1 h1)	–	2 (1 h1)	2 (1 h1)	2 (1 h1)	Gold
2	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	11.692 (3)	12.24 (1 h3)	–	2 (1 h3)	2 (1 h2)	1 (2 h1)	Silver
3	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	11.845 (4)	12.11 (1 h4)	–	2 (1 h4)	0 (2 h1)	2 (1 h2)	Bronze
4	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	11.611 (2)	12.22 (1 h2)	–	2 (1 h2)	1 (2 h2)	0 (2 h2)
5	Julie Speight	AUS	11.955 (5)	– (2 h4)	13.04 (1 h4)	0 (2 h3)	–	12.56 (1 h3)
6	Zhou Suying	CHN	12.477 (11)	– (2 h3)	12.65 (1 h3)	0 (2 h4)	–	– (2 h3)
7	Louise Jones	GBR	12.287 (6)	– (3 h3)	12.36 (1 h2)	0 (2 h1)	–	– (3 h3)
8	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	12.374 (8)	– (2 h1)	12.80 (1 h1)	0 (2 h2)	–	– (4 h3)
2 h1 r2/5	Beth Tabor	CAN	12.588 (12)	– (3 h4)	– (2 h1)	–	–	–
2 h2 r2/5	Seiko Hashimoto	JPN	12.425 (10)	– (2 h2)	– (2 h2)	–	–	–
2 h3 r2/5	Elisabetta Fanton	ITA	12.303 (7)	– (3 h2)	– (2 h3)	–	–	–
2 h4 r2/5	Kim Jin-Yeong	KOR	12.416 (9)	– (3 h1)	– (2 h4)	–	–	–

Qualifying Round

Date	21 September 1988 — 11:26
Format	Qualifying for placements in round one.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	11.527	OR
2	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	11.611	OR
3	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	11.692
4	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	11.845
5	Julie Speight	AUS	11.955	OR
6	Louise Jones	GBR	12.287	OR
7	Elisabetta Fanton	ITA	12.303
8	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	12.374	OR
9	Kim Jin-Yeong	KOR	12.416
10	Seiko Hashimoto	JPN	12.425
11	Zhou Suying	CHN	12.477	OR
12	Beth Tabor	CAN	12.588

Round One

Date	21 September 1988 — 14:00
Format	Winner of each heat advanced to the quarter-finals.

Heat #1

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	12.83	Q
2	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	–
3	Kim Jin-Yeong	KOR	–

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	12.22	Q
2	Seiko Hashimoto	JPN	–
3	Elisabetta Fanton	ITA	–

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	12.24	Q
2	Zhou Suying	CHN	–
3	Louise Jones	GBR	–

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	12.11	Q
2	Julie Speight	AUS	–
3	Beth Tabor	CAN	–

Round One Repêchage

Date	21 September 1988 — 16:25
Format	Winner of each heat advanced to the quarter-finals.

Heat #1

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	12.80	Q
2	Beth Tabor	CAN	–

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Louise Jones	GBR	12.36	Q
2	Seiko Hashimoto	JPN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Zhou Suying	CHN	12.65	Q
2	Elisabetta Fanton	ITA	–

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Julie Speight	AUS	13.04	Q
2	Kim Jin-Yeong	KOR	–

Quarter-Finals

Date	22 September 1988 — 17:00
Format	Best two of three races. Winner of each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat #1

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	2	Q
2	Louise Jones	GBR	0

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	2	Q
2	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	0

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	2	Q
2	Julie Speight	AUS	0

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	2	Q
2	Zhou Suying	CHN	0

Semi-Finals

Date	23 September 1988 — 20:10
Format	Best two of three races. Winner of each heat advanced to the final.

Heat #1

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	2	Q
2	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	0

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	2	Q
2	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	1

Final Round

Date	23 – 24 September 1988 — 17:15
Format	Best two of three races.

Heat 1/2

Time	24 September 1988 — 17:15

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Erika Salumäe	URS	2
2	Christa Rothenburger	GDR	1

Heat 3/4

Time	24 September 1988 — 17:15

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Races Won
1	Connie Paraskevin-Young	USA	2
2	Isabelle Gautheron	FRA	0

Heat 5-8

Time	23 September 1988 — 20:55

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Julie Speight	AUS	12.56
2	Zhou Suying	CHN	–
3	Louise Jones	GBR	–
4	Yang Hsiu-Chen	TPE	–