| 1. Jens-Peter Herold |  East Germany | 3:44.39 | | | 2. Fermín Cacho |  Spain | 3:44.61 | | | 3. Tony Morrell |  Great Britain | 3:44.83 | | | 4. Steffen Brand |  West Germany | 3:45.58 | | | 5. Teófilo Benito | Spain | 3:47.13 | | | 6. António Monteiro |  Portugal | 3:47.46 | | | 7. Róbert Banai |  Hungary | 3:48.50 | | | 8. Rob Harrison | Great Britain | 3:53.29 | |
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| | | First - from each Heat and next Best - advanced to Final. |
| 1. Jens-Peter Herold | East Germany | 3:42.63 | Q | | 2. Fermín Cacho | Spain | 3:42.99 | Q | | 3. Tony Morrell | Great Britain | 3:43.42 | Q | | 8. Róbert Banai | Hungary | 3:45.54 | q | | 9. Marc Corstjens |  Belgium | 3:45.80 | | | 11.Davide Tirelli |  Italy | 3:48.68 | | | -. Ronny Olsson |  Sweden | DQ | |
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| 4. Steffen Brand | West Germany | 3:44.48 | Q | | 5. Teófilo Benito | Spain | 3:44.76 | Q | | 6. Rob Harrison | Great Britain | 3:44.84 | Q | | 7. António Monteiro | Portugal | 3:45.01 | q | | 10.Víctor Rojas | Spain | 3:45.92 | | | -. Enda Fitzpatrick |  Ireland | DNS | |
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