| Final | | time | | gap | L | | 1. Roland Matthes |  East Germany | 2:08.8 | | | 4 | | 2. Santiago Esteva |  Spain | 2:09.7 | NR | 0.9s | 3 | | 3. Volker Werner | East Germany | 2:11.5 | | 2.7s | 2 | | 4. Bob Schoutsen |  Netherlands | 2:11.9 | NR | 3.1s | 5 | | 5. Ejvid Pedersen |  Denmark | 2:12.4 | | 3.6s | 5 | | 6. Viktor Kraszko |  Soviet Union | 2:13.8 | | 5.0s | 1 | | 7. Jean Paul Berjeau |  France | 2:14.9 | | 6.1s | 8 | | 8. Norbert Verweyen |  West Germany | 2:14.9 | | 6.1s | 7 |
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Heats - , --th September | | Best 8 times advanced to Final>. |
| Heat 4 | | time | | | 1. Roland Matthes | East Germany | 2:06.1 | Q, WR | | 5. Volker Werner | East Germany | 2:13.4 | Q | | 9. Mauro Calligaris |  Italy | 2:15.5 | | | 10.Svante Zetherlund |  Sweden | 2:15.7 | | | 11.Grigorij Davidov | Soviet Union | 2:15.9 | | | 18.Lars Borgesen | Denmark | 2:20.3 | | | 19.Pierre Baehr | France | 2:23.3 | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 2. Ejvid Pedersen | Denmark | 2:10.9 | Q, ECR, NR | | 3. Santiago Esteva | Spain | 2:11.7 | Q | | 13.Massimo Nistri | Italy | 2:16.9 | | | 15.Borlói Mátyás |  Hungary | 2:17.0 | | | 20.Cseh László | Hungary | 2:24.2 | | | 22.Szpirosz Kapralosz |  Greece | 2:28.2 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 4. Bob Schoutsen | Netherlands | 2:12.0 | Q, ECR | | 12.James Rogers |  Great Britain | 2:16.7 | | | 13.Michael Richards | Great Britain | 2:16.9 | | | 17.Ralf Beckmann | West Germany | 2:20.2 | | | 21.Pierre Wagner |  Luxembourg | 2:27.4 | | | 23.Konsztantinosz Koszkinasz | Greece | 2:28.4 | |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | | 6. Norbert Verweyen | West Germany | 2:14.1 | Q | | 7. Viktor Kraszko | Soviet Union | 2:14.7 | Q | | 8. Jean Paul Berjeau | France | 2:14.9 | Q | | 16.Enrique Meló | Spain | 2:18.7 | | | 24.Helmut Podolan |  Austria | 2:28.7 | |
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