Heat 1 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Kevin O'Halloran | Australia | 4:36.9 | +5.2s | 3 | 19 | 6. | 2. Koji Nonoshita | Japan | 4:37.4 | +5.7s | 7 | _ | 7. | 3. Angelo Romani | Italy | 4:37.6 | +5.9s | 6 | 22 | 8. | 4. Bill Woolsey | United States | 4:38.2 | +6.5s | 4 | 22 | 10. | 5. Sylvio Kelly Dos Santos | Brazil | 4:48.8 | +17.1s | 5 | 21 | 23. | 6. Ulfiano Babol | Philippines | 4:53.4 | +21.7s | 8 | _ | 30. | 7. Shiu-Ming Wan | Hong Kong | 5:02.6 | +30.9s | 1 | _ | 32. |
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Heat 2 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. John Wardrop | Great Britain | 4:39.8 | +8.1s | 6 | 24 | 11. | 2. Anthony Wellesley Briscoe | South Africa | 4:41.4 | +9.7s | 1 | _ | 13. | 3. George Helela Jr Onekea | United States | 4:41.6 | +9.9s | 3 | 17 | 14. | 4. Hans Kohler | UT Germany | 4:43.5 | +11.8s | 5 | 20 | 18. | 5. Habib Nasution | Indonesia | 4:44.0 | +12.3s | 2 | 20 | 19. | 6. Per-Olof Ostrand | Sweden | 4:45.9 | +14.2s | 4 | 26 | 20. | 7. Gilberto Martinez | Colombia | 4:51.4 | +19.7s | 8 | _ | 28. | 8. Raul Martin Fernandez | Cuba | 4:58.2 | +26.5s | 7 | 15 | 31. |
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