| Final | | time | | | 1. Antti Loikkanen |  Finland | 3:38.16 | CR, NR | | 2. Thomas Wessinghage |  West Germany | 3:38.23 | | | 3. Jürgen Straub |  East Germany | 3:40.2 | | | 4. José Manuel Abascal |  Spain | 3:40.3 | | | 5. Anatoliy Mamontov |  Soviet Union | 3:41.1 | NR | | 6. János Zemen |  Hungary | 3:43.0 | | | 7. Francis Gonzalez |  France | 3:43.4 | | | 8. Joost Borm |  Netherlands | 3:45.2 | | | 9. Eberhard Helm | West Germany | 3:46.8 | | | 10.Tamás Szántó | Hungary | 3:49.0 | |
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Heats - Saturday, 11th March | | First 2 from each Heat and next Best 4 advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Eberhard Helm | West Germany | 3:43.3 | Q | | 2. János Zemen | Hungary | 3:43.4 | Q | | 3. Bernhard Vifian |  Switzerland | 3:43.9 | | | 4. Henryk Wasilewski |  Poland | 3:45.7 | | | 5. Robert Nemeth |  Austria | 3:47.4 | | | 6. Kor Louws | Netherlands | 3:52.7 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 1. Francis Gonzalez | France | 3:39.6 | Q | | 2. Antti Loikkanen | Finland | 3:39.6 | Q | | 3. Tamás Szántó | Hungary | 3:40.7 | q | | 4. Joost Borm | Netherlands | 3:43.2 | q | | 5. Vittorio Fontanella |  Italy | 3:52.7 | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 1. Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | | Q | | 2. Jürgen Straub | East Germany | | Q | | 3. José Manuel Abascal | Spain | | q | | 4. Anatoliy Mamontov | Soviet Union | | q | | 5. András Zsinka | Hungary | | | | 6. Wybo Lelieveld | Netherlands | | | | 7. Juhani Sams | Finland | | |
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