Canadian Doubles, 1,000 metres, Men

Results for the C-2 1000 at the last three World Championships had been inconsistent, but Poland’s Marek Dopierała and Marek Łbik had medalled in every one. The only World Champion from the last three years to attend the 1988 Summer Olympics was East Germany’s Olaf Heukrodt, the 1985 victor, who would become an Olympic champion in the C-1 500 in Seoul. For this event he was partnered with Ingo Spelly. The other two World Championship nations, Hungary and the Soviet Union, sent Gábor Takács and Gusztáv Leikep and Victor Reneischi and Nicolae Juravschi respectively. 1984 Olympic C-1 500 champions and C-1 1000 runners-up Matija Ljubek and Mirko Nišović were also present, as was 1984 Olympic C-1 1000 bronze medalist Didier Hoyer of France, who was partnered with Pascal Sylvoz.

East Germany posted the fastest time and defeated both Poland and Hungary in the opening round, all of whom helped relegate Bulgaria to the repêchage, while France came in second to Romania’s Grigore Obreja and Gheorghe Andriev and the Soviet Union won a third heat. The semi-finals, meanwhile, were won by the Soviet Union, Poland, and East Germany, while Yugoslavia was eliminated in the latter’s heat. Reneischi and Juravschi dominated the final, winning their second Olympic title of the Games (their first had been in the C-2 500) by a margin of over three seconds. Similarly, East Germany was able to take silver by just under three seconds, but Poland had to battle the Danish duo of Christian Frederiksen and Arne Nielsson to claim bronze, which it did by a margin of 0.61 seconds. It was their second medal of the tournament as well, as they earned silver in the C-2 500 the day before.