| Final 18:00 | time | L | | 1. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 47.64s | 6 | | 2. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 47.74s | 5 | | 3. Kriss Akabusi | GBR | 47.86s | 4 | | 4. Kevin Young | USA | 48.01s | 7 | | 5. Danny Harris | USA | 48.46s | 3 | | 6. Derrick Adkins | USA | 49.28s | 1 | | 7. Erick Keter | KEN | 49.99s | 2 | | 8. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 50.28s | 8 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Danny Harris | USA | 48.21s | 4 | | 2. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 48.31s | 3 | | 3. Derrick Adkins | USA | 49.37s | 6 | | 4. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 49.81s | 2 | | 5. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo | BRA | 49.91s | 8 | | 6. Shunji Karube | JPN | 49.94s | 1 | | 7. Gideon Yego | KEN | 50.07s | 7 | | 8. Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 50.70s | 5 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Kriss Akabusi | GBR | 47.91s | 4 | | 2. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48.30s | 5 | | 3. Kevin Young | USA | 48.39s | 6 | | 4. Erick Keter | KEN | 48.47s | 3 | | 5. Vladimir Budko | URS | 49.53s | 8 | | 6. Sven Nylander | SWE | 49.59s | 1 | | 7. Domingo Cordero | PUR | 49.86s | 2 | | 8. Pedro Chiamulera | BRA | 50.02s | 7 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Danny Harris | USA | 48.32s | 3 | | 2. Erick Keter | KEN | 48.62s | 7 | | 3. Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 48.92s | 4 | | 4. Amadou Dia Ba | SEN | 49.77s | 6 | | 5. Olaf Hense | GER | 50.44s | 1 | | 6. Pedro Rodrigues | POR | 50.50s | 2 | | 7. Marc Dollendorf | BEL | 51.45s | 5 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Kriss Akabusi | GBR | 48.79s | 5 | | 2. Vladimir Budko | URS | 49.26s | 7 | | 3. Eronilde Nunes De Araujo | BRA | 49.60s | 1 | | 4. Niklas Wallenlind | SWE | 49.77s | 2 | | 5. Kazuhiko Yamazaki | JPN | 49.97s | 6 | | 6. Michael Grun | GER | 50.30s | 3 | | 7. Ghulam Abbas | PAK | 52.83s | 4 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Kevin Young | USA | 49.08s | 4 | | 2. Gideon Yego | KEN | 49.59s | 3 | | 3. Pedro Chiamulera | BRA | 49.67s | 6 | | 4. Yoshihiko Saito | JPN | 49.89s | 1 | | 5. Alain Cuypers | BEL | 50.21s | 5 | | 6. Antonio Smith | VEN | 50.59s | 7 | | 7. Carsten Kohrbruck | GER | 50.88s | 2 |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. Winthrop Graham | JAM | 49.13s | 5 | | 2. Sven Nylander | SWE | 49.61s | 7 | | 3. Krasimir Demirev | BUL | 49.77s | 1 | | 4. Jozef Kucej | TCH | 49.93s | 6 | | 5. Paolo Bellino | ITA | 50.74s | 2 | | 6. Ahmed Abdelhalim Ghanem | EGY | 50.98s | 4 | | 7. Sylvain Moreau | FRA | 51.26s | 3 | | 8. Hamed Ziad Abou | SYR | 51.57s | 8 |
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| Heat 5 | time | L | | 1. Samuel Matete | ZAM | 49.13s | 1 | | 2. Derrick Adkins | USA | 49.40s | 4 | | 3. Shunji Karube | JPN | 49.57s | 6 | | 4. Domingo Cordero | PUR | 49.60s | 3 | | 5. Mark Jackson | CAN | 50.13s | 7 | | 6. Leigh Miller | AUS | 51.76s | 2 | | -. Gideon Biwott | KEN | DQ | 5 |
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