The women's track cycling sprint competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics was held from 21 September to 24 September. Soviet rider Erika Salumäe won gold, while East Germany's Christa Luding-Rothenburger won silver and Connie Paraskevin-Young of the United States won bronze.
Competition format
The competition was held as a knock-out tournament, preceded by a qualifying round.
The qualifying round had all participants complete one timed individual sprint, with their times deciding seeding in the eighth-finals. No cyclists were eliminated.
In the knock-out stages, the winners of each sprint progressed to the next round. The eighth-finals were held as four sprints with three cyclists in each, with following repechages for the second and third placed. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals were contested head-to-head, best of three sprints. In addition, a one-off four-cyclist sprint was held to decide fifth to eighth places.