| Final 19:40 | time | L | | 1. Georgi Prokopenko | URS | 2:30.0 | 4 | | 2. Alexandr Tutakayev | URS | 2:30.3 | 2 | | 3. Egon Henninger | GDR | 2:30.5 | 6 | | 4. Willy Donners | FRG | 2:31.4 | 3 | | 5. Ferenc Lenkei | HUN | 2:34.3 | 8 | | 6. Klaus Katzur | GDR | 2:34.6 | 5 | | 7. Georges Kiehl | FRA | 2:36.6 | 1 | | 8. Arthur van Oest | NED | 2:38.4 | 7 |
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| Semi-Finals - Thursday 25.08 |
| Semi 1 | time | L | Rk. | | 1. Georgi Prokopenko |  URS | 2:32.4 | 4 | 1. | | 2. Willy Donners |  FRG | 2:33.5 | 5 | 2. | | 3. Arthur van Oest |  NED | 2:36.3 | 6 | 6. | | 4. Georges Kiehl |  FRA | 2:36.6 | 3 | 7. | | 5. Nazario Padron |  ESP | 2:38.5 | 7 | 11. | | 6. Klaus Barth | FRG | 2:39.9 | 8 | 12. | | 7. Pertti Laaksonen |  FIN | 2:40.1 | 1 | 13. | | 8. Ladislau Kostza |  ROU | 2:38.0 | 2 | |
| Semi 2 | time | L | Rk. | | 1. Klaus Katzur |  GDR | 2:33.5 | 4 | 2. | | 3. Egon Henninger | GDR | 2:33.6 | 5 | 4. | | 2. Alexandr Tutakayev | URS | 2:33.6 | 6 | 4. | | 4. Ferenc Lenkei |  HUN | 2:36.8 | 7 | 8. | | 5. Maurizio Giovannini |  ITA | 2:37.2 | 3 | 9. | | 6. Jozef Klukowski |  POL | 2:37.6 | 2 | 10. | | 7. Pavel Pejsa |  TCH | 2:40.2 | 8 | 14. | | 8. Arjan de Haan | NED | 2:41.9 | 1 | 15. |
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| Heat 1 | time | Rk. | | 1. Georgi Prokopenko | URS | 2:32.2 | 1. | | 2. Willy Donners | FRG | 2:34.1 | 3. | | 3. Arthur van Oest | NED | 2:36.4 | 7. | | 4. Josef Klukowski | POL | 2:38.0 | 10. | | 5. Anguel Chakarov |  BUL | 2:44.4 | 22. | | 6. Malcolm Turner |  GBR | 2:45.1 | 24. | | 7. Ugur Cilingiroglu |  TUR | 3:00.8 | 27. |
| Heat 2 | time | Rk. | | 1. Pavel Pejsa | TCH | 2:39.8 | 15. | | 2. Angel Soptereanu | ROU | 2:40.0 | 18. | | 3. Nicolas Gilliard |  SUI | 2:43.5 | 21. | | 4. Fransisco Jou | ESP | 2:44.6 | 23. | | 5. Liam Ball |  IRL | 2:46.5 | 25. |
| Heat 3 | time | Rk. | | 1. Klaus Katzur | GDR | 2:34.0 | 2. | | 2. Ladislau Kostza | ROU | 2:36.6 | 8. | | 3. Marc de Herdt | FRA | 2:39.9 | 17. | | 4. Reinhold Wisslak |  AUT | 2:41.7 | 19. |
| Heat 4 | time | Rk. | | 1. Alexandr Tutakayev | URS | 2:36.6 | 8. | | 2. Nazario Padron | ESP | 2:38.6 | 11. | | 3. Ferenc Lenkei | HUN | 2:38.6 | 11. | | 4. Pertti Laaksonen | FIN | 2:39.0 | 13. | | 5. Robert Apel | GBR | 2:42.8 | 20. | | 6. Finn Ronnow |  DEN | 2:49.3 | 26. | | -. Gian Gross | ITA | DQ | |
| Heat 5 | time | Rk. | | 1. Egon Henninger | GDR | 2:34.5 | 4. | | 2. Georges Kiehl | FRA | 2:35.0 | 5. | | 3. Maurizio Giovannini | ITA | 2:36.1 | 6. | | 4. Arjaan de Haan | NED | 2:39.3 | 14. | | 5. Klaus Barth | FRG | 2:39.8 | 15. |
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