Speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres
# Speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

The men's 500 metres in speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics took place on 14 February, at the Olympic Oval.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

| World record | Nick Thometz (USA) | 36.55 | Heerenveen, Netherlands | 19 March 1987 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Eric Heiden (USA) | 38.03 | Lake Placid, United States | 15 February 1980 |

The following new world and olympic records was set.

| Date | Pair | Athlete | Country | Time | OR | WR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 14 February | Pair 1 | Jan Ykema | Netherlands | 36.76 | OR | |
| 14 February | Pair 4 | Uwe-Jens Mey | East Germany | 36.45 | OR | WR |

## Results

| Rank | Pair | Athlete | Country | Time | Difference | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 4 | Uwe-Jens Mey | East Germany | 36.45 | – | WR |
| | 1 | Jan Ykema | Netherlands | 36.76 | +0.31 | |
| | 4 | Akira Kuroiwa | Japan | 36.77 | +0.32 | |
| 4 | 3 | Sergey Fokichev | Soviet Union | 36.82 | +0.37 | |
| 5 | 18 | Bae Ki-tae | South Korea | 36.90 | +0.45 | |
| 6 | 5 | Igor Zhelezovski | Soviet Union | 36.94 | +0.49 | |
| 7 | 1 | Guy Thibault | Canada | 36.96 | +0.51 | |
| 8 | 3 | Nick Thometz | United States | 37.16 | +0.71 | |
| 9 | 5 | Yasumitsu Kanehama | Japan | 37.25 | +0.80 | |
| 10 | 11 | Frode Rønning | Norway | 37.31 | +0.86 | |
| 11 | 2 | Yasushi Kuroiwa | Japan | 37.34 | +0.89 | |
| 12 | 17 | Vitaliy Makovetskiy | Soviet Union | 37.35 | +0.90 | |
| 13 | 10 | Kimihiro Hamaya | Japan | 37.38 | +0.93 | |
| 14 | 14 | Gaétan Boucher | Canada | 37.47 | +1.02 | |
| 15 | 6 | Erik Henriksen | United States | 37.50 | +1.05 | |
| 16 | 7 | Menno Boelsma | Netherlands | 37.52 | +1.07 | |
| 17 | 17 | Daniel Turcotte | Canada | 37.60 | +1.15 | |
| 18 | 11 | Bjørn Hagen | Norway | 37.69 | +1.24 | |
| 18 | 10 | Göran Johansson | Sweden | 37.69 | +1.24 | |
| 20 | 7 | Hans-Peter Oberhuber | West Germany | 37.73 | +1.28 | |
| 21 | 8 | André Hoffmann | East Germany | 37.75 | +1.30 | |
| 22 | 6 | Marty Pierce | United States | 37.76 | +1.31 | |
| 23 | 9 | Mike Richmond | Australia | 37.77 | +1.32 | |
| 24 | 8 | Hein Vergeer | Netherlands | 37.80 | +1.35 | |
| 25 | 13 | Jerzy Dominik | Poland | 37.83 | +1.38 | |
| 26 | 13 | Michael Hadschieff | Austria | 37.90 | +1.45 | |
| 27 | 9 | Uwe Streb | West Germany | 38.03 | +1.58 | |
| 28 | 15 | Peter Adeberg | East Germany | 38.11 | +1.66 | |
| 29 | 19 | Robert Tremblay | Canada | 38.34 | +1.89 | |
| 30 | 12 | Hans Magnusson | Sweden | 38.60 | +2.15 | |
| 31 | 12 | Claude Nicouleau | France | 38.63 | +2.18 | |
| 32 | 15 | Claes Bengtsson | Sweden | 38.66 | +2.21 | |
| 33 | 16 | Hans van Helden | France | 39.05 | +2.60 | |
| 34 | 14 | Christian Eminger | Austria | 39.70 | +3.25 | |
| 35 | 16 | Behudin Merdović | Yugoslavia | 56.21 |
| 36 | 18 | Nikolay Gulyayev | Soviet Union | 62.86 |
| - | 2 | Dan Jansen | United States | DNF |
