| Final 17:15 | time | | | 1. Helga Seidler |  East Germany | 52.14s | NR | | 2. Inge Bödding |  West Germany | 52.90s | | | 3. Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 52.93s | | | 4. Maria Sykora |  Austria | 53.01s | | | 5. Natalya Chistyakova |  Soviet Union | 53.19s | | | 6. Marika Eklund |  Finland | 53.35s | | | 7. Colette Besson |  France | 53.70s | | | 8. Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.91s | |
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| History Women 400m | | World Record: Neuville (JAM) 51.0s | | European and Championship Record: Duclos, France, Besson, France 51.7s | | Qualification Standard: 53.5s | | Semi-Finals | | Heats |
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Semi-Finals - Wednesday 11.08 19:30 17:50 | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | Rk. | | 1. Helga Seidler | East Germany | 52.77s | Q | 1. | | 2. Colette Besson | France | 52.88s | Q | 2. | | 3. Marika Eklund | Finland | 53.11s | Q | 4. | | 4. Natalya Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 53.16s | Q | 5. | | 5. Karoline Käfer | Austria | 53.70s | | 8. | | 6. Marianne Burggraaf |  Netherlands | 53.77s | | 9. | | 7. Karin Lundgren |  Sweden | 53.95s | | 12. | | 8. Anette Rückes | West Germany | 54.36s | | 15. |
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| Semi 2 | time | | Rk. | | 1. Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 52.99s | Q | 3. | | 2. Inge Bödding | West Germany | 53.16s | Q | 5. | | 3. Maria Sykora | Austria | 53.27s | Q | 7. | | 4. Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.75s | Q | 9. | | 5. Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 54.03s | | 11. | | 6. Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.11s | | 13. | | 7. Jannette Roscoe |  Great Britain | 54.59s | | 14. | | 8. Elisabeth Randerz | Sweden | 54.88s | | 16. |
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| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.17s | Q | | 2. Colette Besson | France | 53.18s | Q | | 3. Anette Rückes | West Germany | 53.56s | Q | | 4. Karin Lundgren | Sweden | 53.77s | Q | | 5. Svetla Zlateva |  Bulgaria | 54.03s | | | 6. Mariana Suman |  Romania | 54.33s | | | 7. Bożena Zientarska |  Poland | 55.04s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | | 1. Helga Seidler | East Germany | 52.70s | Q | | 2. Inge Bödding | West Germany | 53.01s | Q | | 3. Natalya Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 53.18s | Q | | 4. Marianne Burggraaf | Netherlands | 53.57s | Q | | 5. Bernadette Martin | France | 53.72s | | | 6. Danuta Piecyk | Poland | 54.30s | | | 7. Stefka Yordanova | Bulgaria | 55.14s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Marika Eklund | Finland | 54.35s | Q | | 2. Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.42s | Q | | 3. Karoline Käfer | Austria | 54.48s | Q | | 4. Elisabeth Randerz | Sweden | 54.50s | Q | | 5. Krystyna Hryniewicka | Poland | 54.67s | | | 6. Lyubov Aksenova | Soviet Union | 54.91s | | | 7. Josefina Salgado |  Spain | 56.27s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 53.34s | Q | | 2. Maria Sykora | Austria | 53.49s | Q | | 3. Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 53.69s | Q | | 4. Jannette Roscoe | Great Britain | 53.95s | Q | | 5. Nadezhda Kolesnikova | Soviet Union | 54.35s | | | 6. Eva-Charlotte Malmström | Sweden | 54.65s | | | 7. Ingunn Einarsdóttir |  Iceland | 1:00.33 | |
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