| Final | time | age | | 1. Anders Garedrud |  SWE | 8:08.02 | 29 | | 2. Bronislaw Malinowski |  POL | 8:09.11 | 25 | | 3. Frank Baumgartl |  GDR | 8:10.36 | 21 | | 4. Tapio Kantanen |  FIN | 8:12.60 | 27 | | 5. Michael Karst |  FRG | 8:20.14 | 24 | | 6. Evan Robertson |  NZL | 8:21.08 | 28 | | 7. Dan Glans | SWE | 8:21.53 | 29 | | 8. Antonio Campos |  ESP | 8:22.65 | 25 | | 9. Dennis Coates |  GBR | 8:22.99 | 23 | | 10.Henry Marsh |  USA | 8:23.99 | 22 | | 11.Anthony Staynings | GBR | 8:33.66 | 22 | | 12.Ismo Toukonen | FIN | 8:42.74 | 22 |
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| Round | date | H | Athl. | | Heats | 25.07 | 2 | 25 |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Bronisla Malinowski | POL | 8:18.56 | | 2. Frank Baumgartl | GDR | 8:21.25 | | 3. Anders Garderud | SWE | 8:21.43 | | 4. Antonio Campos | ESP | 8:24.53 | | 5. Ismo Toukonen | FIN | 8:27.96 | | 6. Henry Marsh | USA | 8:31.46 | | 7. J. Paul Villain |  FRA | 8:35.03 | | 8. John Bicourt | GBR | 8:35.71 | | 9. Willi Maier | FRG | 8:44.82 | | 10.Peter Larkins |  AUS | 8:46.89 | | 11.Agguast Asgeirsson |  ISL | 8:53.95 | | -. Gerd Fraemmcke | FRG | DNF | | -. Jose R. Andrade Da Silva |  BRA | DNS |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Dennis Coates | GBR | 8:18.95 | | 2. Tapio Kantanen | FIN | 8:20.82 | | 3. Dan Glans | SWE | 8:23.73 | | 4. Michael Karst | FRG | 8:25.02 | | 5. Evan Robertson | NZL | 8:26.31 | | 6. Anthony Staynings | GBR | 8:29.21 | | 7. Paul Thijs |  BEL | 8:31.55 | | 8. Douglas Brown | USA | 8:33.25 | | 9. Takaharu Koyama |  JPN | 8:37.28 | | 10.Miguel Roche | USA | 8:37.36 | | 11.Dusan Moravcik |  TCH | 8:41.95 | | 12.Gheorghe Cefan |  ROM | 8:57.22 |
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