1,000 metres, Men

As in the 500 m, the ban on a large number of Russian athletes had impact on the event. Notably, Pavel Kulizhnikov and Denis Yuskov, who had finished 1-2 at the 2016 Worlds, and had both won World Cup races in the running season, were not allowed to compete. This left two main contenders for the title: Kjeld Nuis and Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen. Both had already won gold at the Gangneung Oval, in the 1,500 m and 500 m, respectively. Nuis was the reigning World Champion in the event, while Lorentzen led the current World Cup standings ahead of Nuis.

The track record, set by Nuis at the 2017 Worlds, was bettered in the 13th pair by Kim Tae-Yun. Having placed 30th in the event at the 2014 Olympics, and having only occasionally placed into the international top 10, he was a virtual unknown, but his 1:08.22 moved him into an eventual bronze medal position. Lorentzen then managed to push below 1:08, helped by the fastest full lap of the field. In the final pair, Nuis opened up a tiny gap of 0.15 at the 200 m mark, and carried the advantage all the way to the finish line, leaving him with 1:07.95. Nuis thus became the third person to win gold in both 1,000 and 1,500 metres at the same Olympics, following Eric Heiden in 1980 and Gaétan Boucher in 1984.