| Final 15:45 | time | | 1. Otis Davis | USA | 44.9s | | 2. Carl Kaufmann | GER | 44.9s | | 3. Malcolm Spence | RSA | 45.5s | | 4. Milkha Singh | IND | 45.6s | | 5. Manfred Kinder | GER | 45.9s | | 6. Earl Young | USA | 45.9s |
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| | | Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Roma. Capp.: 65,000. | | -- competitors from -- nations. |
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| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Otis Davis | USA | 45.5s | | 2. Mikha Singh | IND | 45.9s | | 3. Manfred Kinder | GER | 46.0s | | 4. Robbie Brightwell | GBR | 46.1s | | 5. Gordon Day | SAF | 46.7s | | 6. Kevan Gosper | AUS | 47.1s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Carl Kaufmann |  GER | 45.7s | | 2. Malcolm Spence |  SAF | 45.8s | | 3. Earl Young |  USA | 46.1s | | 4. Abdul Karim Amu |  NIG | 46. s | | 5. Malcolm Spence |  ANT | 46.8s | | 6. Jack Yerman | USA | 48.9s |
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| Quarter 1 | time | | 1. Carl Kaufmann | GER | 46.5s | | 2. Mikha Singh |  IND | 46.5s | | 3. Malcolm Spence | ANT | 46.9s | | 4. Terry Tobacco |  CAN | 47.5s | | 5. Edgar Davis | SAF | 48.0s | | 6. Malcolm Yardley |  GBR | 48.8s | | -. Alf Petterson |  SWE | DNS |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | 1. Jack Yerman | USA | 46.4s | | 2. Kevan Gosper |  AUS | 46.5s | | 3. Manfred Kinder | GER | 46.7s | | 4. James Wedderburn | ANT | 47.0s | | 5. German Guenard Soltero |  PUR | 47.2s | | 6. John Wrighton | GBR | 48.0s |
| Quarter 3 | time | | 1. Earl Young | USA | 46.1s | | 2. Robbie Brightwell | GBR | 46.2s | | 3. Gordon Day | SAF | 46.3s | | 4. Jochen Reske | GER | 47.3s | | 5. Stanislaw Swatowski |  POL | 47.4s | | 6. Konstantin Grachev |  URS | 47.6s | | 7. Bartonjo Rotich |  KEN | 47.8s |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | 1. Otis Davis | USA | 45.9s | | 2. Malcolm Spence | SAF | 46.1s | | 3. Abdul Karim Amu | NIG | 46.6s | | 4. Jerzy Kowalski | POL | 46.7s | | 5. Giuseppe Bommarito |  ITA | 47.5s | | 6. Barry Robinson |  NZL | 48.3s | | 7. Louis Declerck |  BEL | 48.4s |
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Heats - Saturday 03.09 09:50 |
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Manfred Kinder | GER | 46.7s | | 2. Edgar Davis | SAF | 47.2s | | 3. Malcolm Yardley | GBR | 47.3s | | 4. Josef Trousil |  CSV | 47.4s | | 5. John Asare-Antwi |  GHA | 47.7s | | 6. Hirotada Hayase |  JPN | 49.1s | | 7. Habib Zareef Syed |  AFG | 53.8s |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Alf Pettersson | SWE | 48.3s | | 2. Robbie Brightwell | GBR | 48.4s | | 3. Konstantin Grachev | URS | 49.3s | | 4. Felix Heuertz |  LUX | 50.2s | | -. G. Kerr | ANT | DNS | | - N. Romero |  VEN | DNS |
| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Carl Kaufmann | GER | 47.3s | | 2. Barry Robinson | NZL | 47.6s | | 3. Louis Declerck | BEL | 47.9s | | 4. Anubes Ferraz Da Silva |  BRA | 48.0s | | 5. Csaba Csutoras |  HUN | 48.2s | | 6. Eugh Bullard |  BAH | 51.1s |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Malcolm Spence | SAF | 46.7s | | 2. Kevan Gosper | AUS | 47.1s | | 3. Terry Tobacco | CAN | 47.4s | | 4. Gadi Ado |  UGA | 49.0s | | 5. Marcel Lambrechts | BEL | 49.5s | | 6. Jorge Teran |  MEX | 49.6s | | 7. Brahim Karabi |  TUN | 52.0s |
| Heat 5 | time | | 1. German Guenard Soltero | PUR | 47.3s | | 2. Jerzy Kowalski | POL | 48.3s | | 3. Giuseppe Bommarito | ITA | 48.6s | | 4. Li Po Ting |  TPE | 49.5s | | 5. Clayton Glasgow |  GUA | 50.7s | | 6. George Johnson |  LBR | 51.4s |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Jack Yerman | USA | 47.2s | | 2. Mikha Singh | IND | 47.6s | | 3. Stanislaw Swatowski | POL | 48.1s | | 4. Jegathesan Manikavasagam |  MAL | 48.4s | | 5. Ivan Rodriguez | PUR | 49.6s | | 6. Claro Pellosis-Padilla |  PHI | 51.4s |
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