The men's C-1 1000 metres event was an open-style, individual canoeing event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1988 Summer Olympics program.
Fifteen competitors were entered. Held on September 27, the top three finishers in each heat moved on to the semifinals with the others relegated to the repechages.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Jörg Schmidt | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:06.18 | QS | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Eric Jamieson | align=left athlete | 4:06.88 | QS | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Nikolay Bukhalov | align=left athlete | 4:09.57 | QS | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Peter Páleš | align=left athlete | 4:11.88 | QR | |||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Jan Pinczura | align=left athlete | 4:14.10 | QR | |||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Bruce Merritt | align=left athlete | 4:17.73 | QR | |||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Timo Grönlund | align=left athlete | 4:24.69 | QR |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Ivans Klementyev | align=left athlete | 4:05.02 | QS | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | Larry Cain | align=left athlete | 4:09.50 | QS | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Aurel Macarencu | align=left athlete | 4:09.71 | QS | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Ivan Šabjan | align=left athlete | 4:11.54 | QR | ||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Imre Pulai | align=left athlete | 4:12.18 | QR | ||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Francisco López | align=left athlete | 4:16.02 | QR | ||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Hiroyuki Izumi | align=left athlete | 4:40.34 | QR | ||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Jang Yeong-Cheol | align=left athlete | 4:47.95 | QR |
Held on September 27, the top three finishers in each repechage moved on to the semifinals.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Peter Páleš | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:17.83 | QS | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Imre Pulai | align=left athlete | 4:20.50 | QS | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Bruce Merritt | align=left athlete | 4:41.75 | QS | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Hiroyuki Izumi | align=left athlete | 5:00.98 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Ivan Šabjan | align=left athlete | 4:20.82 | QS | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | Francisco López | align=left athlete | 4:22.34 | QS | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Jan Pinczura | align=left athlete | 4:24.10 | QS | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Timo Grönlund | align=left athlete | 4:26.80 | |||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Jang Yeong-Cheol | align=left athlete | 4:43.95 |
Taking place on September 29, the top three finishers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Aurel Macarencu | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:07.69 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Jörg Schmidt | align=left athlete | 4:08.17 | QF | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Ivan Šabjan | align=left athlete | 4:08.75 | QF | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Bruce Merritt | align=left athlete | 4:16.51 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Ivans Klementyev | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:05.06 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Nikolay Bukhalov | align=left athlete | 4:07.23 | QF | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Imre Pulai | align=left athlete | 4:10.79 | QF | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Francisco López | align=left athlete | 4:16.90 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Larry Cain | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:07.47 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Peter Páleš | align=left athlete | 4:08.84 | QF | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Eric Jamieson | align=left athlete | 4:13.44 | QF | |||
| - | align=left athlete | Jan Pinczura | align=left athlete | DISQ |
Pinczura's disqualification was not disclosed in the official report.
The final took place on October 1.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left athlete | Ivans Klementyev | align=left athlete | width=60 | 4:12.78 | |||
| align=left athlete | Jörg Schmidt | align=left athlete | 4:15.83 | ||||
| align=left athlete | Nikolay Bukhalov | align=left athlete | 4:18.94 | ||||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Larry Cain | align=left athlete | 4:20.70 | |||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Aurel Macarencu | align=left athlete | 4:21.72 | |||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Imre Pulai | align=left athlete | 4:21.86 | |||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Peter Páleš | align=left athlete | 4:22.14 | |||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Ivan Šabjan | align=left athlete | 4:24.67 | |||
| 9. | align=left athlete | Eric Jamieson | align=left athlete | 4:39.60 |