| Final 19.50h | time | L | | 1. Kevin Young |  USA | 47.18s | 6 | | 2. Samuel Matete |  ZAM | 47.60s | 3 | | 3. Winthrop Graham |  JAM | 47.62s | 5 | | 4. Stephane Diagana |  FRA | 47.64s | 7 | | 5. Erick Keter |  KEN | 48.40s | 4 | | 6. Oleg Tverdokhleb |  UKR | 48.71s | 2 | | 7. Derrick Adkins | USA | 49.07s | 8 | | 8. Barnabas Kinyor | KEN | 49.23s | 1 |
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| Heat 1 18.30h | time | L | | 1. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 48.09s | 4 | | 2. Derrick Adkins | USA | 48.51s | 3 | | 3. Oleg Tverdokhleb | UKR | 48.62s | 7 | | 4. Barnabas Kinyor | KEN | 49.06s | 5 | | 5. Sven Nylander |  SWE | 49.21s | 8 | | 6. Dries Vorster |  RSA | 49.52s | 2 | | 7. Gary Cadogan |  GBR | 49.59s | 6 | | 8. Hidekazu Katsuki |  JPN | 49.72s | 1 |
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| Heat 2 18.38h | time | L | | 1. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48.18s | 3 | | 2. Erick Keter | KEN | 48.24s | 4 | | 3. Fabrizio Mori |  ITA | 49.23s | 7 | | 4. Jose Perez |  CUB | 49.34s | 1 | | 5. Yoshihiko Saito | JPN | 49.43s | 8 | | 6. Marc Dollendorf |  BEL | 49.93s | 2 | | 7. Olaf Hense |  GER | 50.05s | 5 | | 8. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 50.40s | 6 |
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| Heat 3 18.46h | time | L | | 1. Kevin Young | USA | 47.99s | 3 | | 2. Stephane Diagana | FRA | 48.50s | 5 | | 3. Giorgio Frinolli | ITA | 49.22s | 4 | | 4. Shunji Karube | JPN | 49.31s | 1 | | 5. Rohan Robinson |  AUS | 49.36s | 7 | | 6. Gideon Biwott | KEN | 49.42s | 6 | | 7. Domingo Cordero |  PUR | 49.62s | 2 | | 8. Miro Kocuvan |  SLO | 49.71s | 8 |
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| Heat 1 11.30h | time | L | | 1. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48.49s | 1 | | 2. Domingo Cordero | PUR | 49.55s | 5 | | 3. Yoshihiko Saito | JPN | 49.69s | 2 | | 4. Dries Vorster | RSA | 49.82s | 7 | | 5. Jean-Paul Bruwier | BEL | 50.05s | 3 | | 6. Jozef Kucej |  SVK | 50.18s | 4 | | 7. Costas Pochanis |  CYP | 50.77s | 6 |
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| Heat 2 11.38h | time | L | | 1. Erick Keter | KEN | 49.39s | 5 | | 2. Olaf Hense | GER | 49.64s | 6 | | 3. Hidekazu Katsuki | JPN | 49.72s | 2 | | 4. Miro Kocuvan | SLO | 49.73s | 1 | | 5. Juan Vallin |  MEX | 50.90s | 4 | | 6. Mark Thompson | JAM | 51.04s | 7 | | 7. Alex Foster |  CRC | 53.13s | 3 |
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| Heat 3 11.46h | time | L | | 1. Stephane Diagana | FRA | 48.90s | 6 | | 2. Gary Cadogan | GBR | 49.25s | 4 | | 3. Rohan Robinson | AUS | 49.49s | 5 | | 4. Pedro Rodrigues |  POR | 50.07s | 2 | | 5. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo |  BRA | 50.81s | 1 | | 6. Mark Jackson |  CAN | 51.15s | 3 | | -. Jean-Claude Yekpe |  BEN | DNS | 7 |
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| Heat 4 11.54h | time | L | | 1. Derrick Adkins | USA | 49.18s | 4 | | 2. Gideon Biwott | KEN | 49.27s | 6 | | 3. Giorgio Frinolli | ITA | 49.42s | 1 | | 4. Dusan Kovacs |  HUN | 49.96s | 7 | | 5. Aleksey Bazarov |  ISR | 50.08s | 3 | | 6. Vadim Zadoynov |  MOL | 50.24s | 2 | | 7. Francisco Flores |  HON | 53.79s | 5 |
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| Heat 5 12.02h | time | L | | 1. Jose Perez | CUB | 49.74s | 6 | | 2. Oleg Tverdokhleb | UKR | 50.06s | 4 | | 3. Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 50.10s | 1 | | 4. David Patrick | USA | 50.32s | 5 | | 5. Fadhel Khayati |  TUN | 50.60s | 7 | | 6. Marek Helinurm |  EST | 50.73s | 3 | | 7. Livingstone Roach |  STK | 53.38s | 2 |
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| Heat 6 12.10h | time | L | | 1. Kevin Young | USA | 49.15s | 6 | | 2. Barnabas Kinyor | KEN | 49.39s | 1 | | 3. Shunji Karube | JPN | 49.80s | 5 | | 4. Hamadou Mbaye |  SEN | 50.05s | 7 | | 5. Abdelhak Lahlali |  MAR | 51.19s | 2 | | 6. Igor Kurochkin |  BLR | 51.45s | 3 | | 7. Oscar Pitillas |  ESP | 52.15s | 4 |
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| Heat 7 12.18h | time | L | | 1. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 49.30s | 6 | | 2. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 49.68s | 1 | | 3. Sven Nylander | SWE | 49.70s | 5 | | 4. Marc Dollendorf | BEL | 49.90s | 3 | | 5. Hamed Ziad Abou |  SYR | 49.96s | 2 | | 6. Vesa-Pekka Pihlavisto |  FIN | 51.05s | 7 | | 7. Chanond Keanchan |  THA | 51.37s | 4 |
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