| Final 19:15 | time | | | 1. Jean-Claude Nallet |  FRA | 49.15s | CR | | 2. Christian Rudolph |  GDR | 49.34s | NR | | 3. Dmitriy Stukalov |  URS | 50.04s | | | 4. Dieter Büttner |  FRG | 50.09s | | | 5. Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | URS | 50.51s | | | 6. Ari Salin |  FIN | 50.57s | | | 7. Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | URS | 50.84s | | | 8. Ivan Danis |  TCH | 51.78s | |
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Semi-Finals - Wednesday 11.08 19:10 | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | URS | 50.15s | Q | | 2. Jean-Claude Nallet | FRA | 50.35s | Q | | 3. Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | URS | 50.42s | Q | | 4. Ivan Danis | TCH | 50.63s | NR Q | | 5. Gerd Hennige | FRG | 50.87s | | | 6. Jaakko Tuominen | FIN | 51.13s | | | 7. Giorgio Ballati |  ITA | 51.50s | | | 8. Michel Montgermont | FRA | 52.77s | |
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| Semi 2 | time | & | | 1. Christian Rudolph | GDR | 49.82s | Q | | 2. Dieter Büttner | FRG | 50.21s | Q | | 3. Dmitriy Stukalov | URS | 50.34s | Q | | 4. Ari Salin | FIN | 50.41s | Q | | 5. Werner Reibert | FRG | 50.45s | | | 6. Tadeusz Kulczycki |  POL | 51.16s | | | 7. Heinz Hofer |  SUI | 51.56s | | | 8. Lucien Baggio | FRA | 51.82s | |
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| Heat 1 | time | & | | 1. Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | URS | 50.79s | Q | | 2. Heinz Hofer | SUI | 51.08s | Q | | 3. Ari Salin | FIN | 51.28s | Q | | 4. Lucien Baggio | FRA | 51.29s | Q | | 5. Zdzisław Serafin | POL | 51.53s | | | 6. Kenth Öhman |  SWE | 51.92s | | | 7. Ladislav Kárský | TCH | 51.95s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | & | | 1. Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | URS | 50.48s | Q | | 2. Dieter Büttner | FRG | 50.64s | Q | | 3. Ivan Danis | TCH | 50.74s | Q | | 4. Giorgio Ballati | ITA | 51.07s | Q | | 5. Jürgen Laser | GDR | 51.38s | | | 6. Torsten Torstensson | SWE | 51.85s | | | 7. Witold Banaszak | POL | 51.91s | | | 8. John Sherwood |  GBR | 52.61s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | & | | 1. Christian Rudolph | GDR | 50.48s | Q | | 2. Werner Reibert | FRG | 51.04s | Q | | 3. Tadeusz Kulczycki | POL | 51.11s | Q | | 4. Michel Montgermont | FRA | 51.40s | Q | | 5. Francisco Suárez |  ESP | 51.77s | | | 6. David Scharer | GBR | 51.98s | | | 7. Daniele Giovanardi | ITA | 52.00s | | | 8. Alberto Matos |  POR | 52.26s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | & | | 1. Jean-Claude Nallet | FRA | 50.69s | Q | | 2. Dmitriy Stukalov | URS | 50.78s | Q | | 3. Jaakko Tuominen | FIN | 51.21s | Q | | 4. Gerd Hennige | FRG | 51.23s | Q | | 5. Manuel Soriano | ESP | 51.39s | | | 6. Håkan Öberg | SWE | 51.72s | | | 7. Ion Ratoi |  ROU | 52.10s | | | 8. John Dillon |  IRL | 58.42s | | | Dillon (IRL) Fall. |
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