| Final | time | age | | 1. Pekka Vasala |  Finland | 3:36.3 | 24 | | 2. Kipchoge Keino |  Kenya | 3:36.8 | 32 | | 3. Rod Dixon |  New Zealand | 3:37.5 | 22 | | 4. Mike Boit | Kenya | 3:38.4 | 23 | | 5. Brendan Foster |  Great Britain | 3:39.0 | 24 | | 6. Herman Mignon |  Belgium | 3:39.1 | 21 | | 7. Paul-Heinz Wellmann |  West Germany | 3:40.1 | 20 | | 8. Vladimir Panteley |  Soviet Union | 3:40.2 | 27 | | 9. Tony Polhill | New Zealand | 3:41.8 | 24 | | 10.Tom B. Hansen |  Denmark | 3:46.6 | 24 |
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| Splits | 400m 800m 1200m | | Vasala | 61.7 2:01.6 2:56.7 | | Keino | 62.1 2:01.4 2:56.5 | | Dixon | 61.8 2:01.5 2:57.1 | | Boit | 61.9 2:01.8 2:57.3 | | Foster | 61.4 2:01.9 2:57.5 |
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Keino and Ryun were placed in the same heat, a result of the seeding
committee taking Ryun’s mile best of 3:52.8 and accepting it as a
1500m time. This error was compounded by Ryun falling over after a
collision with a Ghanaian runner. He failed to make the semi-finals as
an appeal was rejected. Keino had won the heat in 3:39.97, the fastest
of the day, just ahead of Dixon. The semi-finals began as tactical
affairs, with wins for Boit (3:41.34) and Keino (3:41.15) before
Francesco Arese (ITA) set a sensibly quicker pace in the third race,
passing 400m in 57.7 before tailing off in the closing stages. Dixon and
Vasala ran 3:37.91 ahead of Foster’s UK record of 3:38.20. The major
casualty of the semis was another American, the 800m winner Dave
Wottle, who was fourth in the first heat.
In the final, Foster led the field through a slow lap of 61.5, and Keino
came up from eighth place after 400m to take the lead 200m later.
Keino wound up the pace, and the field stretched out in single file, with
Vasala right behind the Kenyan, and Foster holding on in third place.
Keino’s third lap was covered in 55.3. Boit and Dixon moved past
Foster with 300m to go, as Keino continued to push the pace. Vasala
went to Keino’s shoulder as they came off the final bend, and powered
past with 50m to go, winning by 4m, with Dixon passing Boit and clos-
ing on Keino in the finishing straight. Vasala’s final lap had taken 53.4
seconds, and his last 800m was clocked in 1:48.8.
| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Mike Boit | Kenya | 3:41.3 | | 2. Vladimir Pantelei | Soviet Union | 3:41.6 | | 3. Tom B. Hansen | Denmark | 3:41.6 | | 4. David Wottle |  United States | 3:41.6 | | 5. Christopher Fisher |  Australia | 3:42.0 | | 6. Gianni del Buono |  Italy | 3:42.0 | | 7. Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 3:43.4 | | 8. Spilios Zacharopoulos |  Greece | 3:43.5 | | 9. Ulf Hogberg |  Sweden | 3:43.6 | | 10.Hailu Ebba |  Ethiopia | 3:43.7 |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Kipchoge Keino | Kenya | 3:41.2 | | 2. Herman Mignon | Belgium | 3:41.7 | | 3. Tony Polhill | New Zealand | 3:41.8 | | 4. Shibrou Regassa | Ethiopia | 3:41.9 | | 5. Jacques Boxberger |  France | 3:42.4 | | 6. Henryk Szordykowski |  Poland | 3:42.5 | | 7. Haico Scharn |  Netherlands | 3:44.4 | | 8. Pekka Paivarinta | Finland | 3:45.1 | | 9. Raymond Smedley | Great Britain | 3:45.8 | | 10.Bodo Tummler | West Germany | 3:50.0 |
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| Semi 3 | time | | 1. Rod Dixon | New Zealand | 3:37,9 | | 2. Pekka Vasala | Finland | 3:37,9 | | 3. Brendan Foster | Great Britain | 3:38,2 | | 4. Paul-Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 3:38,4 | | 5. Gunnar Ekman | Sweden | 3:39,4 | | 6. Robert Wheeler | United States | 3:40,4 | | 7. Franco Arese | Italy | 3:41,1 | | 8. Jean-Pierre Dufrasne | France | 3:41,6 | | 9. Klaus-Peter Justus |  East Germany | 3:44,6 | | 10.Gerd Larsen | Denmark | 3:59,4 |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 3:40.6 | | 2. David Wottle | United States | 3:40.7 | | 3. Jean-Pierre Dufrasne | France | 3:40.8 | | 4. Brendan Foster | Great Britain | 3:40.8 | | 5. Donaldo Arza |  Panama | 3:41.7 | | 6. Ivan Ivanov | Soviet Union | 3:42.3 | | 7. Mehmet Tuemkan |  Turkey | 3:44.0 | | 8. Mohamed Kacemi |  Algeria | 3:45.2 | | 9. Daniel Andrade |  Senegal | 3:59.2 | | 10.Dafallah Sultan Farah |  Sudan | 4:02.9 |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Franco Arese | Italy | 3:44.0 | | 2. Herman Mignon | Belgium | 3:44.2 | | 3. Bodo Tummler | West Germany | 3:44.5 | | 4. Gerd Larsen | Denmark | 3:44.7 | | 5. John Kirkbride | Great Britain | 3:45.3 | | 6. Filbert Bayi |  Tanzania | 3:45.4 | | 7. Jozef Horcic |  Czechoslovakia | 3:45.7 | | 8. William Smart |  Canada | 3:49.2 | | -. Bram Wassenaar | Netherlands | DNS | | -. Kassem Hamze |  Libya | DNS |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Shibrou Regassa | Ethiopia | 3:43.6 | | 2. Spilios Zacharopoulos | Greece | 3:43.8 | | 3. Henryk Szordykowski | Poland | 3:44.2 | | 4. Pekka Paivarinta | Finland | 3:44.4 | | 5. Andre de Hertoghe | Belgium | 3:44.6 | | 6. Petre Lupan |  Romania | 3:44.8 | | 7. M'Hamad Amakdouf |  Marocco | 3:48.4 | | 8. A Naser Alsafraa |  Saudi Arabia | 4:14.5 | | -. Benson Mulomba |  Zambia | DNS | | -. Robert Leborgne | France | DNS |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Kipchoge Keino | Kenya | 3:40.0 | | 2. Rod Dixon | New Zealand | 3:40.0 | | 3. Gunnar Ekman | Sweden | 3:40.4 | | 4. Klaus-Peter Justus | East Germany | 3:40.4 | | 5. Gianni del Buono | Italy | 3:40.8 | | 6. Werner Meier |  Switzerland | 3:43.2 | | 7. Mohamad Younas |  Pakistan | 3:44.1 | | 8. Vitus Ashaba |  Uganda | 3:45.2 | | 9. James Ryun | United States | 3:51.5 | | 10.Billy Fordjour |  Ghana | 4:08.2 | | -. Evgeni Arzhanov | Soviet Union | DNS |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Hailu Ebba | Ethiopia | 3:41.6 | | 2. Paul- Heinz Wellmann | West Germany | 3:41.8 | | 3. Raymond Smedley | Great Britain | 3:42.1 | | 4. Christopher Fisher | Australia | 3:42.5 | | 5. Francis Murphy |  Ireland | 3:43.4 | | 6. Byron Dyce |  Jamaica | 3:45.9 | | 7. Cosmas Silei | Kenya | 3:52.0 | | 8. Joze Medjimurec |  Yugoslavia | 3:52.1 | | 9. Harry Nkopeka |  Malawi | 4:00.9 | | 10. Edward Kar |  Liberia | 4:21.4 |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Pekka Vasala | Finland | 3:40.9 | | 2. Tom Bo Hansen | Denmark | 3:41.1 | | 3. Robert Wheeler | United States | 3:41.3 | | 4. Haico Scham | Netherlands | 3:41.4 | | 5. Ulf Hogberg | Sweden | 3:41.5 | | 6. Edgar Salve | Belgium | 3:42.1 | | 7. Anthony Colon |  Puerto Rico | 3:44.6 | | 8. Edouard Rasoanaivo |  Madagascar | 3:48.5 | | 9. Jaiye Abidoye |  Nigeria | 3:48.8 | | 10.Mohammed Aboker |  Somalia | 3:59.5 |
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| Heat 7 | time | | 1. Mike Boit | Kenya | 3:42.2 | | 2. Tony Polhill | New Zealand | 3:42.3 | | 3. Vladimir Pantelei | Soviet Union | 3:42.3 | | 4. Jacques Boxberger | France | 3:42.6 | | 5. Mansour Guettaya |  Tunisia | 3:43.9 | | 6. Fernando Eugenio Mamede |  Portugal | 3:45.1 | | 7. Azzedine Azzouzi | Algeria | 3:46.4 | | 8. Kenneth Elmer | Canada | 3:46.6 | | 9. Esaie Fongang |  Cameroon | 3:54.5 | | 10.Jimmy Crampton |  Birma | 4:06.9 |
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