| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Giuseppe Gerbi |  Italy | 8:29.10 | Q | | 2. Ismo Toukonen |  Finland | 8:29.5 | Q | | 3. Krzysztof Wesołowski |  Poland | 8:30.0 | Q | | 4. František Bartoš |  Czechoslovakia | 8:31.94 | q | | 5. Manfred Schoeneberg |  West Germany | 8:34.2 | q | | 6. Dan Glans |  Sweden | 8:34.5 | | | 7. Dan Betini |  Romania | 8:34.9 | | | 8. Vladimir Filonov |  Soviet Union | 8:39.0 | | | 9. Paul Thys |  Belgium | 8:43.8 | | | 10.Wolfgang Konrad |  Austria | 8:43.9 | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Paul Copu | Romania | 8:33.29 | Q | | 2. Michael Karst | West Germany | 8:33.7 | Q | | 3. Dennis Coates |  Great Britain | 8:34.7 | Q | | 4. Serhiy Olizarenko | Soviet Union | 8:36.7 | | | 5. Roberto Volpi | Italy | 8:39.1 | | | 6. Dušan Moravčík | Czechoslovakia | 8:43.2 | | | 7. Kazimierz Maranda | Poland | 8:48.4 | | | 8. Bruno Lafranchi |  Switzerland | 8:51.7 | | | 9. Christer Ström | Sweden | 8:53.8 | | | 10.Hans Koeleman |  Netherlands | 8:59.6 | | | 11.Domingo Ramón |  Spain | 9:07.8 | |
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East Germany
France
