Canadian Singles, 1,000 metres, Men

Ivans Klementjevs had been the most successful canoeist in the C-1 1000 over the last three World Championships, with gold in 1985, silver in 1986, and bronze in 1987, and was the favorite to take the title at the 1988 Summer Olympics, but he would not go unchallenged. Romania’s Aurel Macarencu, the 1986 World Champion and 1985 bronze medalist, was present in Seoul while the reigning World Champion, Olaf Heukrodt of East Germany, elected to compete in his speciality, the C-1 500, instead, leaving 1982 World Champion Jörg Schmidt to represent his nation. Schmidt and Klementjevs won their opening heats, with Macarencu coming in third to the Soviet and Canada’s Larry Cain, the 1984 Olympic C-1 500 champion and the reigning Olympic runner-up in the C-1 1000. In the semi-finals, Macarencu defeated Schmidt, while Klementjevs and Cain took the other heats. Klementjevs took charge in the final and won gold by over three seconds, while Schmidt captured silver by almost the same margin. Bulgaria’s Nikolay Buhalov, the 1986 World bronze medalist in the C-1 500, took bronze by almost two seconds over Cain.