The men's C-1 1000 metres event was an open-style, individual canoeing event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1976 Summer Olympics program.
Fifteen competitors were entered. Held on July 29, 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 | Ivan Patzaichin | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:13.09 | QS | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Tamás Wichmann | align=left athlete | 4:14.87 | QS | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Matija Ljubek | align=left athlete | 4:15.14 | QS | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Roland Iche | align=left athlete | 4:20.13 | QR | |||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Ulrich Eicke | align=left athlete | 4:28.66 | QR | |||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Pietro Bruschi | align=left athlete | 4:33.38 | QR | |||
| 7. | align=left athlete | William Reichenstein | align=left athlete | 4:49.20 | QR | |||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Mitsuo Nakanishi | align=left athlete | 4:52.59 | QR |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Vasyl Yurchenko | align=left athlete | 4:20.44 | QS | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | Wilfried Stephan | align=left athlete | 4:25.23 | QS | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Borislav Ananiev | align=left athlete | 4:28.18 | QS | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Göran Backlund | align=left athlete | 4:29.36 | QR | ||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Timo Grönlund | align=left athlete | 4:30.93 | QR | ||
| 6. | align=left athlete | John Edwards | align=left athlete | 4:32.67 | QR | ||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Angus Morrison | align=left athlete | 4:35.77 | QR |
Held on July 29, the top three finisher in each repechage advanced to the semifinals.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Roland Iche | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:15.51 | QS | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Angus Morrison | align=left athlete | 4:18.11 | QS | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Pietro Bruschi | align=left athlete | 4:19.11 | QS | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Timo Grönlund | align=left athlete | 4:19.71 | ||||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Mitsuo Nakanishi | align=left athlete | 4:40.96 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Ulrich Eicke | align=left athlete | 4:12.00 | QS | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | John Edwards | align=left athlete | 4:14.47 | QS | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Göran Backlund | align=left athlete | 4:28.18 | QS | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | William Reichenstein | align=left athlete | 4:37.47 |
Taking place on July 31, the top three finishers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=30 | 1. | align=left athlete | Borislav Ananiev | align=left athlete | width=80 | 4:13.39 | QF | |
| 2. | align=left athlete | Ivan Patzaichin | align=left athlete | 4:15.21 | QF | |||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Ulrich Eicke | align=left athlete | 4:16.69 | QF | |||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Pietro Bruschi | align=left athlete | 4:21.88 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Vasyl Yurchenko | align=left athlete | 4:12.00 | QF | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | Matija Ljubek | align=left athlete | 4:19.99 | QF | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | John Edwards | align=left athlete | 4:21.89 | QF | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Angus Morrison | align=left athlete | 4:25.83 |
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | align=left athlete | Tamás Wichmann | align=left athlete | 4:17.32 | QF | ||
| 2. | align=left athlete | Roland Iche | align=left athlete | 4:18.30 | QF | ||
| 3. | align=left athlete | Wilfried Stephan | align=left athlete | 4:18.99 | QF | ||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Göran Backlund | align=left athlete | 4:20.93 |
The final took place on July 31.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left athlete | Matija Ljubek | align=left athlete | width=60 | 4:09.51 | |||
| align=left athlete | Vasyl Yurchenko | align=left athlete | 4:12.57 | ||||
| align=left athlete | Tamás Wichmann | 4:14.11 | |||||
| 4. | align=left athlete | Borislav Ananiev | align=left athlete | 4:14.41 | |||
| 5. | align=left athlete | Ivan Patzaichin | align=left athlete | 4:15.08 | |||
| 6. | align=left athlete | Roland Iche | align=left athlete | 4:18.23 | |||
| 7. | align=left athlete | Wilfried Stephan | align=left athlete | 4:22.43 | |||
| 8. | align=left athlete | Ulrich Eicke | align=left athlete | 4:22.77 | |||
| 9. | align=left athlete | John Edwards | align=left athlete | 4:30.55 |
Ljubek, fourth at the halfway mark, was the only finalist to paddle the second half of the race faster than the first.