This page lists the World Best Year Performance in the year 1988 in both the men's and the women's race walking distances: 10 km, 20 km and 50 km (outdoor). The main event during this season were the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
Abbreviations
- All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds
| WR | world record |
| AR | area record |
| CR | event record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
Men's 50 km
1988 World Year Ranking
| Rank |
Time |
Athlete |
Venue |
Date |
Note |
| 1 | 3:38:29 |  Vyacheslav Ivanenko (URS) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 2 | 3:38:56 |  Ronald Weigel (GDR) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 3 | 3:39:45 | Hartwig Gauder (GDR) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 4 | 3:41:00 | Aleksandr Potashov (URS) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 5 | 3:43:03 |  José Marín (ESP) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 6 | 3:44:07 |  Simon Baker (AUS) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | AR |
| 7 | 3:44:27 |  Raffaello Ducceschi (ITA) | | | NR |
| 8 | 3:44:49 |  Bo Gustafsson (SWE) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | NR |
| 9 | 3:44:57 |  Reima Salonen (FIN) | | | |
| 10 | 3:46:30 | Vitaliy Popovich (URS) | | | |
| 11 | 3:46:31 | Dietmar Meisch (GDR) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 12 | 3:46:52 |  Pavol Szikora (TCH) | | | |
| 13 | 3:47:14 | Giovanni Perricelli (ITA) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 14 | 3:47:30 | Bernd Gummelt (GDR) | | | |
| 15 | 3:47:31 | Pavol Blažek (TCH) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 16 | 3:48:08 | Sandro Bellucci (ITA) | | | |
| 17 | 3:48:09 | Jorge Llopart (ESP) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 18 | 3:48:15 |  François Lapointe (CAN) | Seoul, South Korea | 30 September 1988 | |
| 19 | 3:48:39 | Nikolay Frolov (URS) | | | |
| 20 | 3:48:53 | Valeriy Suntsov (URS) | | | |
Women's 5 km
1988 World Year Ranking
| Rank |
Time |
Athlete |
Venue |
Date |
Note |
| 1 | 20:52 | Kerry Saxby-Junna (AUS) | Adelaide, Australia | 16 October 1988 | |
| 2 | 21:10 | Vera Ossipova (URS) | | | AR |
| 3 | 21:21 | Natalya Spiridonova (URS) | | | |
| 4 | 21:53 | Sada Eidikyte (URS) | | | |
| 5 | 21:54 | Svetlana Kaburkina (URS) | | | |
| 6 | 21:56 | Alina Ivanova (URS) | | | |
| 7 | 22:02 | Sari Essayah (FIN) | | | |
| 8 | 22:03 | Mirva Hämäläinen (FIN) | | | |
| 9 | 22:05 | Tatyana Titova (URS) | | | |
| Yevgeniya Micheyeva (URS) | | | |
| 11 | 22:11 | Mari Cruz Díaz (ESP) | | | |
| 12 | 22:13 | Olga Kardopolzeva (URS) | | | |
| 13 | 22:14 | Yelena Rodionova (URS) | | | |
| 14 | 22:15 | Maria Reyes Sobrino (ESP) | | | |
| 15 | 22:18 | Valentina Zybulskaya (URS) | | | |
| 16 | 22:20 | Maria Popkova (URS) | | | |
| 17 | 22:21 | Leonarda Yuchnevich (URS) | | | |
| 18 | 22:24 | Raissa Sinyavina (URS) | | | |
| 19 | 22:30 | Regina Loseva (URS) | | | |
| 20 | 22:32 |  Teresa Vaill (USA) | | | |
| Sarah Standley (USA) | | | |
Women's 10 km
1988 World Year Ranking
| Rank |
Time |
Athlete |
Venue |
Date |
Note |
| 1 | 41:30 | Kerry Saxby-Junna (AUS) | Canberra, Australia | 27 August 1988 | WR |
| 2 | 43:26 | Svetlana Kaburkina (URS) | | | |
| 3 | 43:29 | Vera Makolova (URS) | | | |
| 4 | 43:37 | Yelena Nikolayeva (URS) | | | |
| 5 | 43:43 | Tamara Kovalenko (URS) | | | |
| 6 | 43:53 | Natalya Spiridonova (URS) | | | |
| 7 | 44:13 | Nadeshda Ryashkina (URS) | | | |
| 8 | 44:16 | Natalya Serbinenko (URS) | | | |
| 9 | 44:20 | Sada Eidikyte (URS) | | | |
| 10 | 44:21 | Olga Veremenchuk (URS) | | | |
| 11 | 44:26 | Sari Essayah (FIN) | | | NR |
| 12 | 44:33 | Beate Anders (GDR) | | | NR |
| 13 | 44:54 | Mirva Hämäläinen (FIN) | | | |
| 14 | 44:57 | Ludmila Lyubomirova (URS) | | | |
| 15 | 44:58 | Svetlana Polovinko (URS) | | | |
| 16 | 44:59 |  Victoria Oprea (ROM) | | | NR |
| 17 | 45:00 | Yelena Rodionova (URS) | | | |
| 18 | 45:01 | Valentina Shmer (URS) | | | |
| 19 | 45:12 | Vera Ossipova (URS) | | | |
| 20 | 45:17 | Natalya Storochenko (URS) | | | |
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