| Final 20:45 | time | | 1. Roger Black | GBR | 44.59s | | 2. Thomas Schoenlebe | GDR | 44.63s | | 3. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 44.85s | | 4. Derek Redmond | GBR | 45.25s | | 5. Ralf Luebke | FRG | 45.35s | | 6. Antonio Sánchez | ESP | 45.41s | | 7. Aldo Canti | FRA | 45.93s | | 8. Erwin Skamrahl | FRG | 46.38s |
|
|
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Roger Black | GBR | 45.33s | | 2. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 45.38s | | 3. Aldo Canti | FRA | 45.62s | | 4. Erwin Skamrahl | FRG | 45.81s | | 5. Yann Quentrec | FRA | 45.89s | | 6. A. Kurotschkin | URS | 46.01s | | 7. Roberto Ribaud | ITA | 46.22s | | 8. Philip Brown | GBR | 46.61s |
|
| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Derek Redmond | GBR | 45.35s | | 2. Thomas Schoenlebe | GDR | 45.42s | | 3. Antonio Sánchez | ESP | 45.71s | | 4. Ralf Luebke | FRG | 45.72s | | 5. Derek O'Connor | IRL | 45.94s | | 6. Joerg Vaihinger | FRG | 46.36s | | 7. Arkadi Kornilov | URS | 46.46s | | 8. Arjen Visserman | NED | 46.66s |
|
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Roger Black | GBR | 45.40s | | 2. Antonio Sánchez | ESP | 45.78s | | 3. Erwin Skamrahl | FRG | 46.11s | | 4. Arjen Visserman | NED | 46.12s | | 5. Mauro Zuliani | ITA | 46.53s | | 6. Ismail Macev | YUG | 47.52s | | 7. Eikret Tulumtas | TUR | 48.97s |
|
| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Philip Brown | GBR | 46.00s | | 2. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 46.04s | | 3. Derek O'Connor | IRL | 46.09s | | 4. Joerg Vaihinger | FRG | 46.23s | | 5. Vladimir Prossin | URS | 46.32s | | 6. Gusztav Menczer | HUN | 46.40s |
|
| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Derek Redmond | GBR | 45.75s | | 2. Ralf Luebke | FRG | 45.88s | | 3. A. Kurotschkin | URS | 46.18s | | 4. Aldo Canti | FRA | 46.23s | | 5. Ángel Heras | ESP | 46.41s | | 6. Gerry Delaney | IRL | 46.88s |
|
| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Thomas Schoenlebe | GDR | 45.54s | | 2. Roberto Ribaud | ITA | 45.69s | | 3. Yann Quentrec | FRA | 45.77s | | 4. Arkadi Kornilov | URS | 46.09s | | 5. Zeljko Knapic | YUG | 47.81s | | -. Marcel Arnold | SUI | DQ |
|
| 
