| Final | time | | 1. Patriz Ilg |  FRG | 8:15.06 | | 2. Boguslaw Maminski |  POL | 8:17.03 | | 3. Colin Reitz |  GBR | 8:17.75 | | 4. Joseph Mahmoud |  FRA | 8:18.32 | | 5. Roger Hackney | GBR | 8:19.38 | | 6. Graeme Fell | GBR | 8:20.01 | | 7. Julius Korir |  KEN | 8:20.11 | | 8. Henry Marsh |  USA | 8:20.45 | | 9. Mariano Scartezzini |  ITA | 8:21.17 | | 10.Domingo Ramon |  ESP | 8:21.32 | | 11.Hagen Melzer |  GDR | 8:21.33 | | 12.Tommy Ekblom |  FIN | 8:21.50 |
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| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Colin Reitz | GBR | 8:22.91 | | 2. Hagen Melzer | GDR | 8:23.10 | | 3. Henry Marsh | USA | 8:23.18 | | 4. Tommy Ekblom | FIN | 8:23.28 | | 5. Mariano Scartezzini | ITA | 8:23.30 | | 6. Francisco Sanchez | ESP | 8:23.92 | | 7. Panayot Kashanov |  BUL | 8:31.95 | | 8. Richard Tuwei | KEN | 8:33.29 | | 9. Pascal Debacker | FRA | 8:36.16 | | 10.William Van Dijck |  BEL | 8:39.01 | | -. Rainer Schwarz | FRG | DNF | | -. Krzysztof Wesolowski | POL | DNS |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Boguslaw Maminski | POL | 8:20.81 | | 2. Patriz Ilg | FRG | 8:20.83 | | 3. Julius Korir | KEN | 8:21.07 | | 4. Joseph Mahmoud | FRA | 8:21.29 | | 5. Domingo Ramon | ESP | 8:21.61 | | 6. Roger Hackney | GBR | 8:22.44 | | 7. Graeme Fell | GBR | 8:23.22 | | 8. Brian Diemer | USA | 8:23.39 | | 9. Peter Renner |  NZL | 8:25.72 | | 10.Gabor Marko |  HUN | 8:32.42 | | 11.Shigeyuki Aikyo |  JPN | 8:33.29 | | 12.Kip Rono | KEN | 8:33.97 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Julius Korir | KEN | 8:26.63 | | 2. Domingo Ramon | ESP | 8:27.19 | | 3. Henry Marsh | USA | 8:27.46 | | 4. Rainer Schwarz | FRG | 8:27.71 | | 5. Graeme Fell | GBR | 8:27.71 | | 6. Gabor Marko | HUN | 8:27.72 | | 7. Mariano Scartezzini | ITA | 8:28.27 | | 8. Joseph Mahmoud | FRA | 8:29.34 | | 9. Shigeyuki Aikyo | JPN | 8:31.27 | | 10.Peter Daenens | BEL | 8:39.66 | | 11.Ilkka Ayravainen | FIN | 8:46.23 | | 12.Flemming Jensen |  DEN | 8:56.57 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Krzysztof Wesolowski | POL | 8:27.08 | | 2. Panayot Kashanov | BUL | 8:29.15 | | 3. Kip Rono | KEN | 8:29.25 | | 4. Tommy Ekblom | FIN | 8:30.74 | | 5. Roger Hackney | GBR | 8:30.90 | | 6. William Van Dijck | BEL | 8:32.33 | | 7. Rickey Pittman | USA | 8:32.62 | | 8. Brendan Quinn |  IRL | 8:34.02 | | 9. Hamid Homada |  MAR | 8:34.59 | | 10.Juan Torres | ESP | 8:41.87 | | 11.Mark Adam |  CAN | 9:15.18 | | 12.Hana Girma |  ETH | 9:31.81 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Colin Reitz | GBR | 8:22.78 | | 2. Boguslaw Maminski | POL | 8:22.79 | | 3. Patriz Ilg | FRG | 8:22.97 | | 4. Richard Tuwei | KEN | 8:23.88 | | 5. Hagen Melzer | GDR | 8:24.23 | | 6. Brian Diemer | USA | 8:24.92 | | 7. Peter Renner | NZL | 8:25.66 | | 8. Francisco Sanchez | ESP | 8:25.92 | | 9. Pascal Debacker | FRA | 8:30.79 | | 10.Carmelo Rios |  PUR | 8:47.19 | | 11.Eshetu Tura | ETH | 8:53.86 |
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