1,000 metres, Men

There were plenty of candidates for the 1,000 m title. Dan Jansen had won the first 1,000 m at the World Sprint Champions a week before the Games, but after hearing of his sister’s death shortly before the start of the 500 m, Jansen had fallen in his race, and it was unclear what to expect of him. Jansen’s team mate Eric Flaim was better known as a miler, but had won the second 1,000 m at West Allis. The winner of the Olympic 500 m, Uwe-Jens Mey had won two World Cup races in the 1,000 during the season and was highly considered. In addition, there were two Soviet skaters, Igor Zhelezovsky and Nikolay Gulyayev. Zhelezovsky was the 1985 and 1986 World Sprint Champion, and held the 1,500 m world record. Gulyayev had been the star of the 1987 season, winning both the European and World Allround Championships. But at the Davos World Cup in January, it was revealed that Norwegian team members had intercepted packages of anabolic steroids. They had been intended for Stein Olav Krosby, who had been regularly receiving packages of the drugs from Gulyayev, usually using a middle man to deliver them to Krosby. While a Soviet team doctor was fired, Gulyayev was not punished by the Soviet skating federation. As Gulyayev had not tested positive himself, and possession of doping was not illegal per Olympic rules, Gulyayev was able to take part in Calgary as planned.

Of these contenders, Gulyayev was the first to skate. As an allround skater, his 200 m split was relatively poor, but his full laps of 27.16 and 28.70 brought him to 1:13.03, half a second behind the official world record (in March 1987, both Nick Thometz and Andrey Bakhvalov had been faster than Pavel Pegov’s 1:12.58, but their times were not held in an officially announced competition). In the next race, Jansen was, as expected, ahead of Gulyayev’s splits, before falling once again. Pair five then saw Mey and Zhelezovsky race each other. Mey, the better 500 m racer, was well ahead at the bell, while Zhelezovsky matched Gulyayev’s splits. But Mey faded in the final lap. While he was able to hold off Zhelezovsky, he was unable to best Gulyayev’s time, finishing in 1:13.11, against 1:13.19 for his opponent. Flaim, too, was level with Gulyayev at 600 m, but lost half a second in the last lap.