The men's K-4 1000 metres event was a fours kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1988 Summer Olympics program.
| align=center bgcolor=gold | Gold | align=center bgcolor=silver | Silver | align=center bgcolor=cc9966 | Bronze |
Zsolt Gyulay Ferenc Csipes Sándor Hódosi Attila Ábrahám | Aleksandr Motuzenko Sergey Kirsanov Igor Nagaev Viktor Denisov | Kay Bluhm André Wohllebe Andreas Stähle Hans-Jörg Bliesener |
18 crews entered in three heats on September 27. The top three finishers from each of the heats advanced directly to the semifinals while the remaining nine teams were relegated to the repechages.
| Heat 1 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 2:58.54 | QS | |
| 2. | 3:01.07 | QS | |||
| 3. | 3:01.54 | QS | |||
| 4. | 3:04.38 | QR | |||
| 5. | 3:16.54 | QR | |||
| 6. | 3:23.32 | QR | |||
| Heat 2 | |||||
| 1. | 3:06.52 | QS | |||
| 2. | 3:07.70 | QS | |||
| 3. | 3:10.32 | QS | |||
| 4. | 3:16.71 | QR | |||
| 5. | 3:23.33 | QR | |||
| 6. | 3:31.62 | QR | |||
| Heat 3 | |||||
| 1. | 3:02.72 | QS | |||
| 2. | 3:03.30 | QS | |||
| 3. | 3:04.98 | QS | |||
| 4. | 3:06.96 | QR | |||
| 5. | 3:10.27 | QR | |||
| 6. | 3:15.00 | QR |
Nine teams competed in two repechages on September 27. The top three finishers from each of the repechages advanced directly to the semifinals.
| Repechage 1 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:06.90 | QS | |
| 2. | 3:09.30 | QS | |||
| 3. | 3:11.27 | QS | |||
| 4. | 3:24.16 | ||||
| 5. | 3:26.79 | ||||
| Repechage 2 | |||||
| 1. | 3:16.68 | QS | |||
| 2. | 3:16.79 | QS | |||
| 3. | 3:16.80 | QS | |||
| 4. | 3:17.54 |
The top three finishers in each of the semifinals (raced on September 29) advanced to the final.
| Semifinal 1 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:07.16 | QF | |
| 2. | 3:10.11 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:12.44 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:15.03 | ||||
| 5. | 3:15.60 | ||||
| Semifinal 2 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:09.07 | QF | |
| 2. | 3:10.87 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:11.11 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:15.90 | ||||
| - | Did not finish | ||||
| Semifinal 3 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:06.80 | QF | |
| 2. | 3:08.52 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:09.67 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:11.56 | ||||
| 5. | 3:13.88 |
Norway's reason for not finishing was not disclosed in the official report.
The final was held on October 1.
| width=30 bgcolor=gold | width=60 | 3:00.20 | ||
| bgcolor=silver | 3:01.40 | |||
| 3:02.37 | ||||
| 4. | 3:03.70 | |||
| 5. | 3:04.73 | |||
| 6. | 3:05.43 | |||
| 7. | 3:05.97 | |||
| 8. | 3:06.03 | |||
| 9. | 3:08.71 |
Hungary was seventh at the 500 meter mark before coming back to lead in the third 250-meter part of the race.