| Final 17:05 | time | L | | 1. Derrick Adkins |  USA | 47.98s | 4 | | 2. Samuel Matete |  ZAM | 48.03s | 3 | | 3. Stephane Diagana |  FRA | 48.14s | 6 | | 4. Ruslan Mashchenko |  RUS | 48.83s | 7 | | 5. Sven Nylander |  SWE | 48.84s | 5 | | 6. Ken Harnden |  ZIM | 48.89s | 2 | | 7. Kazuhiko Yamazaki |  JPN | 49.22s | 8 | | 8. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo |  BRA | 49.86s | 1 |
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| Semi 1 17:40 | time | L | | 1. Derrick Adkins | USA | 48.25s | 6 | | 2. Stephane Diagana | FRA | 48.37s | 5 | | 3. Ruslan Mashchenko | RUS | 48.75s | 2 | | 4. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo | BRA | 48.85s | 4 | | 5. Erick Keter |  KEN | 49.53s | 7 | | 6. Jose Perez |  CUB | 50.20s | 1 | | -. Fabrizio Mori |  ITA | DQ | 3 | | -. Shunji Karube | JPN | DQ | 8 |
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| Semi 2 17:50 | time | L | | 1. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48.50s | 6 | | 2. Sven Nylander | SWE | 48.53s | 8 | | 3. Kazuhiko Yamazaki | JPN | 48.64s | 5 | | 4. Ken Harnden | ZIM | 48.73s | 7 | | 5. Laurent Ottoz | ITA | 48.94s | 4 | | 6. Octavius Terry | USA | 49.49s | 1 | | 7. Dusan Kovacs |  HUN | 49.57s | 2 | | -. Winthrop Graham |  JAM | DQ | 3 |
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| Heat 1 19:40 | time | L | | 1. Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 49.37s | 4 | | 2. Ken Harnden | ZIM | 49.65s | 3 | | 3. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 49.91s | 6 | | 4. Stephan Striezel |  GER | 51.65s | 1 | | 5. Juan Vallin |  MEX | 51.96s | 5 | | 6. Ibou Faye |  SEN | 52.20s | 8 | | -. Oleg Tverdokhleb |  UKR | DNF | 7 | | -. Salvador Vila |  ESP | DQ | 2 |
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| Heat 2 19:46 | time | L | | 1. Stephane Diagana | FRA | 49.16s | 4 | | 2. Octavius Terry | USA | 49.43s | 8 | | 3. Carlos Silva |  POR | 49.53s | 3 | | 4. Patrick Ottoz | ITA | 49.65s | 6 | | 5. Inigo Monreal | ESP | 50.30s | 2 | | 6. Barnabas Kinyor | KEN | 50.91s | 5 | | -. Chanond Keanchan |  THA | DQ | 7 |
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| Heat 3 19:52 | time | L | | 1. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 49.15s | 8 | | 2. Erick Keter | KEN | 49.27s | 2 | | 3. Dusan Kovacs | HUN | 49.30s | 3 | | 4. Rohan Robinson |  AUS | 49.63s | 4 | | 5. Yoshihiko Saito | JPN | 49.91s | 7 | | 6. Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily |  KSA | 50.54s | 1 | | 7. Jean-Paul Bruwier |  BEL | 50.96s | 6 | | -. Gary Jennings |  GBR | DQ | 5 |
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| Heat 4 19:58 | time | L | | 1. Laurent Ottoz | ITA | 48.90s | 1 | | 2. Sven Nylander | SWE | 49.10s | 8 | | 3. Miro Kocuvan |  SLO | 49.45s | 6 | | 4. Jozef Kucej |  SVK | 50.00s | 4 | | 5. Michael Kaul | GER | 50.23s | 5 | | 6. Vadim Zadoynov |  MOL | 50.24s | 3 | | 7. Domingo Cordero |  PUR | 50.42s | 7 | | 8. Judex Lefou |  MRI | 51.46s | 2 |
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| Heat 5 20:04 | time | L | | 1. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo | BRA | 48.84s | 5 | | 2. Shunji Karube | JPN | 49.07s | 2 | | 3. Gennadiy Gorbenko | UKR | 49.44s | 8 | | 4. Ryan Hayden | USA | 49.77s | 6 | | 5. Simon Hollingsworth | AUS | 50.66s | 4 | | 6. Hamadou Mbaye | SEN | 52.13s | 3 | | 7. Eric Krings |  GUA | 53.78s | 1 | | -. Petteri Pulkkinen |  FIN | DQ | 7 |
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| Heat 6 20:10 | time | L | | 1. Kazuhiko Yamazaki | JPN | 48.37s | 5 | | 2. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48.45s | 8 | | 3. Ruslan Mashchenko | RUS | 48.47s | 7 | | 4. Niklas Eriksson | SWE | 49.33s | 4 | | 5. Pawel Januszewski |  POL | 49.43s | 3 | | 6. Oscar Pitillas | ESP | 51.28s | 2 | | 7. Mohamed Amin |  PAK | 52.22s | 1 | | 8. Ilir Xhani |  ALB | 52.61s | 6 |
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| Heat 7 20:16 | time | L | | 1. Derrick Adkins | USA | 48.86s | 8 | | 2. Jose Perez | CUB | 50.32s | 4 | | 3. Marc Dollendorf | BEL | 50.47s | 5 | | 4. Jimmy Coco | FRA | 50.80s | 7 | | 5. Olaf Hense | GER | 52.35s | 3 | | -. Gideon Biwott | KEN | DQ | 2 | | -. Gary Cadogan | GBR | DQ | 6 |
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