[3][4] Six of the top 10 shooters from the 1984 Games, including all three medalists, returned: two-time gold medalist Luciano Giovannetti of Italy, silver medalist Francisco Boza of Peru, bronze medalist Daniel Carlisle of the United States, fourth-place finisher Timo Nieminen of Finland, eighth-place finisher Johnny Påhlsson of Sweden, and ninth-place finisher Sherif Saleh of Egypt.

The favorites in the event were the last two World Champions, Miloslav Bednařík of Czechoslovakia (1985 and 1986) and Dmitry Monakov of the Soviet Union (1987).

[1] The People's Republic of China and Saudi Arabia each made their debut in the event.

Great Britain made its 14th appearance, most among nations, having missed only the 1980 Moscow Games.

Dmitry Monakov and Miloslav Bednařík set the initial 225-target Olympic record at 222.