| Final | | time | | | 1. Luciano Sušanj |  Yugoslavia | 46.38s | WB | | 2. Benno Stops |  East Germany | 47.31s | | | 3. Dariusz Podobas |  Poland | 47.40s | | | 4. Gerd Pollakowski | East Germany | 48.28s | |
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| | First 2 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | | time | | | 1. Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 46.73s | Q | | 2. Benno Stops | East Germany | 47.28s | Q | | 4. Ulrich Reich |  West Germany | 47.62s | | | -. Hermann Köhler | West Germany | DNS | |
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| Semi 2 | | time | | | 3. Dariusz Podobas | Poland | 47.55s | Q | | 5. Gerd Pollakowski | East Germany | 47.75s | Q | | 6. Falko Geiger | West Germany | 47.84s | | | 7. Manuel Soriano |  Spain | 48.01s | |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | | 4. Falko Geiger | West Germany | 47.88s | Q | | 5. Benno Stops | East Germany | 48.06s | Q | | 9. Jan Balachowski | Poland | 48.31s | | | 16.Lucien Sainte-Rose |  France | 48.80s | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 6. Hermann Köhler | West Germany | 48.19s | Q | | 11.Manuel Soriano | Spain | 48.41s | Q | | 12.Jim Aukett |  Great Britain | 48.47s | | | 15.Khadzhi Rakhmanov |  Soviet Union | 48.74s | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 7. Gerd Pollakowski | East Germany | 48.20s | Q | | 8. Ulrich Reich | West Germany | 48.28s | Q | | 10.Patrick Salvador | France | 48.33s | | | 13.Miroslav Tulis |  Czechoslovakia | 48.48s | |
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| Heat 4 | | time | | | 1. Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 46.83s | Q | | 2. Dariusz Podobas | Poland | 47.55s | Q | | 3. Michael Fredriksson |  Sweden | 47.70s | | | 14.Bjarni Stefánsson |  Iceland | 48.73s | NR |
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