| Final | | time | | | 1. Hervé Phélippeau |  France | 3:47.42 | | | 2. Han Kulker |  Netherlands | 3:47.57 | | | 3. Sergey Afanasyev |  Soviet Union | 3:47.63 | | | 4. Manuel Pancorbo |  Spain | 3:47.64 | | | 5. Hauke Fuhlbrügge |  East Germany | 3:47.76 | | | 6. Eckhardt Rüter |  West Germany | 3:48.95 | | | 7. Espen Borge |  Norway | 3:49.57 | | | 8. Tonino Viali |  Italy | 3:51.01 | |
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Heats - Saturday, 18th February | | First 3 from each Heat and next Best 2 advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Sergey Afanasyev | Soviet Union | 3:44.31 | Q | | 2. Tonino Viali | Italy | 3:44.57 | Q | | 3. Manuel Pancorbo | Spain | 3:44.79 | Q | | 4. Eckhardt Rüter | West Germany | 3:44.79 | q | | 5. Hauke Fuhlbrügge | East Germany | 3:44.88 | q | | 6. Klaus-Peter Nabein | West Germany | 3:44.91 | | | 12.Marc Corstjens |  Belgium | 3:47.13 | | | 13.Petr Nechanický |  Czechoslovakia | 3:47.35 | | | 18.Róbert Banai |  Hungary | 3:50.14 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 7. Han Kulker | Netherlands | 3:45.46 | Q | | 8. Espen Borge | Norway | 3:45.69 | Q | | 9. Hervé Phélippeau | France | 3:46.14 | Q | | 10.Karl Blaha |  Austria | 3:46.15 | | | 11.Mario Neumann | East Germany | 3:46.24 | | | 14.šngel Fariñas | Spain | 3:47.92 | | | 15.Mark Kirk |  Great Britain | 3:48.12 | | | 16.Ralf Stewing | West Germany | 3:49.09 | | | 17.Nikolaos Vouzis |  Greece | 3:49.76 | |
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