| Final | time |  | 1. Kriss Akabusi |   Great Britain | 47.92s |  | 2. Sven Nylander |   Sweden | 48.43s |  | 3. Niklas Wallenlind |   Sweden | 48.52s |  | 4. Vadim Zadoinov |   Soviet Union | 48.61s |  | 5. Stephane Diagana |   France | 48.92s |  | 6. Carsten Köhrbrück |   West Germany | 48.95s |  | 7. Jose Alonso |   Spain | 49.77s |  | 8. Edgar Itt |   West Germany | 49.83s |   
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| Semi 1 | time |  | 1. Kriss Akabusi |   Great Britain | 48.84s |  | 2. Stephane Diagana |   France | 49.26s |  | 3. Vadim Zadoinov |   Soviet Union | 49.34s |  | 4. José Alonso |   Spain | 49.92s |  | 5. Jozef Kucej |   Czechoslovakia | 50.52s |  | 6. Olaf Hense |   West Germany | 50.53s |  | 7. Pawel Wozniak |   Poland | 50.94s |  | 8. Thomas Nyberg |   Sweden | 51.02s |   
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| Semi 2 | time |  | 1. Niklas Wallenlind |   Sweden | 48.80s |  | 2. Sven Nylander |   Sweden | 48.82s |  | 3. Carsten Köhrbrück |   West Germany | 49.04s |  | 4. Edgar Itt |   West Germany | 49.24s |  | 5. Max Robertson |   Great Britain | 49.25s |  | 6. Aleksey Bazarov |   Soviet Union | 49.37s |  | 7. Koen Verlinde |   Belgium | 49.90s |  | 8. Krassimir Demirev |   Bulgaria | 50.39s |   
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| Heat 1 | time |  | 1. Kriss Akabusi |   Great Britain | 50.08s |  | 2. Vadim Zadoinov |   Soviet Union | 50.34s |  | 3. Koen Verlinde |   Belgium | 50.50s |  | 4. Olaf Hense |   West Germany | 50.74s |  | 5. Pawel Wozniak |   Poland | 51.09s |  | 6. V.P. Pihlavisto |   Finland | 51.59s |  | 7. Santiago Fraga |   Spain | 52.00s |   
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| Heat 2 | time |  | 1. Max Robertson |   Great Britain | 50.27s |  | 2. Carsten Köhrbrück |   West Germany | 50.39s |  | 3. Stéphane Diagana |   France | 50.49s |  | 4. Krassimir Demirev |   Bulgaria | 50.59s |  | 5. Mugur Mateescu |   Romania | 51.63s |  | 6. Branislav Karaulic |   Yugoslavia | 53.26s |   
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| Heat 3 | time |  | 1. Edgar Itt |   West Germany | 50.93s |  | 2. Jozef Kucej |   Czechoslovakia | 51.01s |  | 3. Niklas Wallenlind |   Sweden | 51.06s |  | 4. Daniel Ritter |   Switzerland | 51.24s |  | 5. MauroMaurizi |   Italy | 51.27s |  | 6. Alexsandr Belikov |   Soviet Union | 51.31s |  | 7. Marc Dollendorf |   Belgium | 51.60s |   
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| Heat 4 | time |  | 1. Sven Nylander |   Sweden | 50.28s |  | 2. Jose Alonso |   Spain | 50.83s |  | 3. Thomas Nyberg |   Sweden | 50.36s |  | 4. Aleksey Bazarov |   Soviet Union | 50.84s |  | 5. T. Kaloyannis |   Greece | 51.37s |  | 6. Miro Kocuvan |   Yugoslavia | 51.37s |  | 7. Pedro Rodrigues |   Portugal | 52.03s |   
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