| Final 16:50 | time | | | 1. Lajos Szentgáli |  HUN | 1:47.1 | CR NR | | 2. Lucien De Muynck |  BEL | 1:47.3 | NR | | 3. Audun Boysen |  NOR | 1:47.4 | NR | | 4. Derek Johnson |  GBR | 1:47.4 | | | 5. Roger Moens | BEL | 1:47.8 | | | 6. Rasquin Gérard |  LUX | 1:51.4 | | | 7. Tage Ekfeldt |  SWE | 1:53.8 | | | 8. Ron Delany |  IRL | 2:03.5 | |
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| | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. Lajos Szentgáli | HUN | 1:50.0 | CR Q | | 2. Ron Delany | IRL | 1:50.2 | NR Q | | 3. Lucien De Muynck | BEL | 1:50.3 | Q | | 4. Tage Ekfeldt | SWE | 1:50.3 | Q | | 5. Edmund Potrzebowski |  POL | 1:51.2 | | | 6. Brian Hewson | GBR | 1:51.2 | | | 7. Olaf Lawrenz |  FRG | 1:51.4 | | | 8. Urpo Vähäranta |  FIN | 1:51.4 | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. Audun Boysen | NOR | 1:50.6 | Q | | 2. Roger Moens | BEL | 1:50.7 | Q | | 3. Derek Johnson | GBR | 1:51.0 | Q | | 4. Rasquin Gérard | LUX | 1:51.5 | Q | | 5. René Djian |  FRA | 1:51.8 | | | 6. Friedel Stracke | FRG | 1:52.3 | | | 7. Oleg Ageyev |  URS | 1:52.5 | | | 8. István Bárkányi | HUN | 1:52.8 | |
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| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Olaf Lawrenz | FRG | 1:52.0 | Q | | 2. Lucien De Muynck | BEL | 1:52.2 | Q | | 3. István Bárkányi | HUN | 1:52.4 | Q | | 4. Tage Ekfeldt | SWE | 1:52.4 | Q | | 5. Tauno Kontio | FIN | 1:52.8 | | | 6. Ludvík Liška |  TCH | 1:53.2 | | | 7. Alfred Lasch |  AUT | 1:55.4 | | | 8. Manuel Macías |  ESP | 1:56.7 | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Lajos Szentgáli | HUN | 1:51.8 | Q | | 2. Derek Johnson | GBR | 1:51.8 | Q | | 3. Edmund Potrzebowski | POL | 1:52.3 | Q | | 4. René Djian | FRA | 1:52.8 | Q | | 5. Josef Steger |  SUI | 1:53.5 | | | 6. Ekrem Koçak |  TUR | 1:56.2 | | | 7. De Kroon |  NED | | | | -. Gunnar Nielsen |  DEN | DNF | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Brian Hewson | GBR | 1:50.2 | CR Q | | 2. Audun Boysen | NOR | 1:50.3 | Q | | 3. Rasquin Gérard | LUX | 1:51.6 | Q | | 4. Oleg Ageyev | URS | 1:51.7 | Q | | 5. Evangelos Depastas |  GRE | 1:52.7 | | | 6. Hugo Wallkamm | SUI | 1:55.1 | | | 7. Patrick El Mabrouk | FRA | 1:56.0 | | | 8. Ernst Suppan | AUT | 1:58.4 | | | 9. Somuncuoğlu Ünal | TUR | 2:02.6 | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Roger Moens | BEL | 1:51.5 | Q | | 2. Ron Delany | IRL | 1:51.8 | Q | | 3. Friedel Stracke | FRG | 1:52.1 | Q | | 4. Urpo Vähäranta | FIN | 1:52.2 | Q | | 5. Hans Ring | SWE | 1:52.7 | | | 6. Georgiy Ivakin | URS | 1:53.9 | | | 7. Dušan Čikel | TCH | 1:54.2 | | | 8. Miloje Grujić |  YUG | 1:55.7 | |
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