| Final | | time | | | 1. Henryk Szordykowski |  Poland | 3:48.8 | | | 2. Frank Murphy |  Ireland | 3:49.0 | | | 3. Volodymyr Panteley |  Soviet Union | 3:49.8 | | | 4. Pierre Toussaint |  France | 3:50.2 | | | 5. Ulf Högberg |  Sweden | 3:50.7 | | | 6. Jerzy Maluśki | Poland | 3:50.7 | | | 7. Edgard Salvé |  Belgium | 3:54.5 | | | 8. Knut Brustad |  Norway | 4:00.7 | |
|
|
|
| | | First 2 from each Heat advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Henryk Szordykowski | Poland | 3:47.9 | Q | | 2. Edgard Salvé | Belgium | 3:48.2 | Q | | 3. Frank Murphy | Ireland | 3:48.4 | Q | | 4. Knut Brustad | Norway | 3:48.4 | Q | | 5. Miodrag Vukomanović |  Yugoslavia | 3:49.8 | | | 6. Mehmet Tümkan |  Turkey | 3:51.2 | | | 7. Heinrich Händlhuber |  Austria | 3:51.6 | |
|
|
| Heat 2 | | time | | | 1. Volodymyr Panteley | Soviet Union | 3:52.6 | Q | | 2. Pierre Toussaint | France | 3:52.6 | Q | | 3. Jerzy Maluśki | Poland | 3:52.7 | Q | | 4. Ulf Högberg | Sweden | 3:52.8 | Q | | 5. Ivan Kováč |  Czechoslovakia | 3:52.9 | | | 6. Dimko Deribeyev |  Bulgaria | 3:54.2 | | | 7. Walter Wilkinson |  Great Britain | 3:55.4 | |
|
|
| 