| Date | 22 September 1988 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul |
| Participants | 44 from 32 countries |
Igor Polyansky (URS) came into Seoul as the heavy favorite in this event, having lost only one race since 1985, that at the 1987 European Championships to his teammate, Sergey Zabolotnov. They had set the last two world records, with Zabolotnov setting his at the 1984 Friendship Games in Moscow, just after the Los Angeles Olympics, but Polyansky broke that record in 1985 with 1:58.14. In the Seoul final, Zabolotnov led at 100 metres, but Polyansky took the lead on the third lap. He held on for the gold medal and East German Frank Baltrusch finished quickly for silver, as Zabolotnov fell off the medal stand and placed fourth.
The bronze medal went to New Zealander Paul Kingsman, whose best previous international finish had been a third at the 1987 Pan Pacs. The awards ceremony would not go so well for him or for Polyansky. First, Kingsman was introduced as from the Soviet Union. Then Polyansky had to stand there as they corrected that, but they overdid it, and announced the playing of the New Zealand national anthem. Fortunately that was corrected and the Soviet anthem was actually played.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | R1 | B Final | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 532 | Igor Polyansky |  URS | 2:01.70 (2 h6) | – | 1:59.37 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 253 | Frank Baltrusch |  GDR | 2:01.49 (1 h5) | – | 1:59.60 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 434 | Paul Kingsman |  NZL | 2:02.20 (4 h6) | – | 2:00.48 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 541 | Sergey Zabolotnov | URS | 2:01.27 (1 h6) | – | 2:00.52 (4) | |||
| 5 | 264 | Dirk Richter | GDR | 2:01.54 (1 h4) | – | 2:01.67 (5) | |||
| 6 | 199 | Jens-Peter Berndt |  FRG | 2:01.77 (3 h6) | – | 2:01.84 (6) | |||
| 7 | 580 | Dan Veatch |  USA | 2:01.73 (2 h4) | – | 2:02.26 (7) | |||
| 8 | 64 | Rogério Romero |  BRA | 2:02.26 (2 h5) | – | 2:02.28 (8) | |||
| 9 | 210 | Frank Hoffmeister | FRG | 2:03.34 (4 h4) | 2:01.65 (1) | – | |||
| 10 | 547 | Steve Bigelow | USA | 2:03.64 (5 h4) | 2:02.95 (2) | – | |||
| 11 | 152 | Martín López-Zubero |  ESP | 2:03.33 (3 h5) | 2:03.70 (3) | – | |||
| 12 | 88 | Mark Tewksbury |  CAN | 2:04.02 (6 h5) | 2:03.79 (4) | – | |||
| 13 | 68 | Georgi Mihalev |  BUL | 2:02.71 (3 h4) | 2:04.24 (5) | – | |||
| 14 | 307 | Tamás Deutsch |  HUN | 2:03.17 (5 h6) | 2:04.42 (6) | – | |||
| 15 | 384 | Daichi Suzuki |  JPN | 2:03.36 (4 h5) | 2:04.67 (7) | – | |||
| 16 | 231 | Gary Binfield |  GBR | 2:03.79 (1 h3) | 2:04.90 (8) | – | |||
| 17 | 344 | Stefano Battistelli |  ITA | 2:03.63 (5 h5) | – | – | 1 | ||
| 18 | 83 | Sean Murphy | CAN | 2:03.81 (6 h4) | – | – | |||
| 19 | 438 | Alejandro Alvizuri |  PER | 2:04.29 (2 h3) | – | – | |||
| 20 | 236 | John Davey | GBR | 2:04.70 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 21 | 181 | David Holderbach |  FRA | 2:04.83 (6 h6) | – | – | |||
| =22 | 29 | Simon Upton |  AUS | 2:05.08 (7 h6) | – | – | |||
| =22 | 428 | Ernesto Vela |  MEX | 2:05.08 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 24 | 333 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson |  ISL | 2:05.61 (7 h5) | – | – | |||
| 25 | 331 | Richard Gheel |  IRL | 2:05.71 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 26 | 132 | Lars Sørensen |  DEN | 2:05.73 (8 h6) | – | – | |||
| 27 | 330 | Stephen Cullen | IRL | 2:06.98 (1 h2) | – | – | |||
| 28 | 493 | Pavel Vokoun |  TCH | 2:07.24 (7 h4) | – | – | |||
| 29 | 471 | Patrick Ferland |  SUI | 2:07.77 (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 30 | 106 | Lin Laijiu |  CHN | 2:08.28 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 31 | 461 | David Lim |  SGP | 2:08.65 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 32 | 379 | Shigemori Maruyama | JPN | 2:09.16 (7 h3) | – | – | |||
| 33 | 63 | Vladimir Ribeiro | BRA | 2:11.48 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 34 | 124 | Horst Niehaus |  CRC | 2:12.83 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 35 | 123 | Eric Greenwood | CRC | 2:15.42 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 36 | 283 | Patrick Sagisi |  GUM | 2:15.82 (7 h2) | – | – | |||
| 37 | 601 | Brett Halford |  ZIM | 2:17.84 (1 h1) | – | – | |||
| 38 | 300 | Pablo Barahona |  HON | 2:21.61 (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 39 | 500 | Mohammed Alghafri |  UAE | 2:29.64 (3 h1) | – | – | |||
| 40 | 503 | Mohamed Bin Abid | UAE | 2:36.21 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 41 | 417 | Rami Kantari |  LBN | 2:40.29 (5 h1) | – | – | |||
| 276 | Charalampos Papanikolaou |  GRE | – (DQ h3) | – | – | ||||
| 305 | Tamás Darnyi | HUN | – (DQ h5) | – | – | ||||
| 404 | Park Dong-Pil |  KOR | – (DQ h2) | – | – |
| Date | 22 September 1988 — 10:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final. |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Brett Halford | ZIM | 2:17.84 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Pablo Barahona | HON | 2:21.61 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Mohammed Alghafri | UAE | 2:29.64 | ||
| 4 | 6 | Mohamed Bin Abid | UAE | 2:36.21 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Rami Kantari | LBN | 2:40.29 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Stephen Cullen | IRL | 2:06.98 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Patrick Ferland | SUI | 2:07.77 | ||
| 3 | 7 | David Lim | SGP | 2:08.65 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Vladimir Ribeiro | BRA | 2:11.48 | ||
| 5 | 8 | Horst Niehaus | CRC | 2:12.83 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Eric Greenwood | CRC | 2:15.42 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Patrick Sagisi | GUM | 2:15.82 | ||
| 3 | Park Dong-Pil | KOR | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Gary Binfield | GBR | 2:03.79 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Alejandro Alvizuri | PER | 2:04.29 | ||
| 3 | 8 | John Davey | GBR | 2:04.70 | ||
| 4 | 5 | Ernesto Vela | MEX | 2:05.08 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Richard Gheel | IRL | 2:05.71 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Lin Laijiu | CHN | 2:08.28 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Shigemori Maruyama | JPN | 2:09.16 | ||
| 4 | Charalampos Papanikolaou | GRE | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Dirk Richter | GDR | 2:01.54 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Dan Veatch | USA | 2:01.73 | ||
| 3 | 7 | Georgi Mihalev | BUL | 2:02.71 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Frank Hoffmeister | FRG | 2:03.34 | ||
| 5 | 6 | Steve Bigelow | USA | 2:03.64 | ||
| 6 | 5 | Sean Murphy | CAN | 2:03.81 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Pavel Vokoun | TCH | 2:07.24 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Frank Baltrusch | GDR | 2:01.49 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Rogério Romero | BRA | 2:02.26 | ||
| 3 | 8 | Martín López-Zubero | ESP | 2:03.33 | ||
| 4 | 7 | Daichi Suzuki | JPN | 2:03.36 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Stefano Battistelli | ITA | 2:03.63 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Mark Tewksbury | CAN | 2:04.02 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson | ISL | 2:05.61 | ||
| 6 | Tamás Darnyi | HUN | – |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Sergey Zabolotnov | URS | 2:01.27 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Igor Polyansky | URS | 2:01.70 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Jens-Peter Berndt | FRG | 2:01.77 | ||
| 4 | 7 | Paul Kingsman | NZL | 2:02.20 | ||
| 5 | 6 | Tamás Deutsch | HUN | 2:03.17 | ||
| 6 | 1 | David Holderbach | FRA | 2:04.83 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Simon Upton | AUS | 2:05.08 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Lars Sørensen | DEN | 2:05.73 |
| Date | 22 September 1988 — 20:00 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Frank Hoffmeister | FRG | 2:01.65 | ||
| 2 | 7 | Steve Bigelow | USA | 2:02.95 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Martín López-Zubero | ESP | 2:03.70 | ||
| 4 | 8 | Mark Tewksbury | CAN | 2:03.79 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Georgi Mihalev | BUL | 2:04.24 | ||
| 6 | 5 | Tamás Deutsch | HUN | 2:04.42 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Daichi Suzuki | JPN | 2:04.67 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Gary Binfield | GBR | 2:04.90 |
| Date | 22 September 1988 — 20:00 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Igor Polyansky | URS | 1:59.37 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Frank Baltrusch | GDR | 1:59.60 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Paul Kingsman | NZL | 2:00.48 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Sergey Zabolotnov | URS | 2:00.52 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Dirk Richter | GDR | 2:01.67 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Jens-Peter Berndt | FRG | 2:01.84 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Dan Veatch | USA | 2:02.26 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Rogério Romero | BRA | 2:02.28 |
