| Final 17:40 | time | | 1. Bronisław Malinowski |  Poland | 8:15.08 | | 2. Patriz Ilg |  West Germany | 8:16.92 | | 3. Ismo Toukonen |  Finland | 8:18.29 | | 4. Michael Karst | West Germany | 8:19.01 | | 5. Paul Copu |  Romania | 8:20.41 | | 6. Vasile Bichea | Romania | 8:24.86 | | 7. František Bartoš |  Czechoslovakia | 8:38.0 | | 8. Manfred Schoeneberg | West Germany | 8:40.1 | | 9. Giuseppe Gerbi |  Italy | 8:42.8 | | 10.Dennis Coates |  Great Britain | 8:44.0 | | 11.Krzysztof Wesołowski | Poland | 8:46.4 | | 12.Vladimir Lisovskiy |  Soviet Union | 9:00.5 |
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Heats - Friday 01.09 20:10 | | First 3 and Best 3 progress to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Giuseppe Gerbi | Italy | 8:29.10 | Q | | 2. Ismo Toukonen | Finland | 8:29.5 | Q | | 3. Krzysztof Wesołowski | Poland | 8:30.0 | Q | | 4. František Bartoš | Czechoslovakia | 8:31.94 | q | | 5. Manfred Schoeneberg | West Germany | 8:34.2 | q | | 6. Dan Glans |  Sweden | 8:34.5 | | | 7. Dan Betini | Romania | 8:34.9 | | | 8. Vladimir Filonov | Soviet Union | 8:39.0 | | | 9. Paul Thys |  Belgium | 8:43.8 | | | 10.Wolfgang Konrad |  Austria | 8:43.9 | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Paul Copu | Romania | 8:33.29 | Q | | 2. Michael Karst | West Germany | 8:33.7 | Q | | 3. Dennis Coates | Great Britain | 8:34.7 | Q | | 4. Serhiy Olizarenko | Soviet Union | 8:36.7 | | | 5. Roberto Volpi | Italy | 8:39.1 | | | 6. Dušan Moravčík | Czechoslovakia | 8:43.2 | | | 7. Kazimierz Maranda | Poland | 8:48.4 | | | 8. Bruno Lafranchi |  Switzerland | 8:51.7 | | | 9. Christer Ström | Sweden | 8:53.8 | | | 10.Hans Koeleman |  Netherlands | 8:59.6 | | | 11.Domingo Ramón |  Spain | 9:07.8 | |
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| Heat 3 | time | & | | 1. Vasile Bichea | Romania | 8:25.43 | Q | | 2. Bronisław Malinowski | Poland | 8:25.58 | Q | | 3. Patriz Ilg | West Germany | 8:30.4 | Q | | 4. Vladimir Lisovskiy | Soviet Union | 8:31.4 | q | | 5. Gerhard Wetzig |  East Germany | 8:36.1 | | | 6. Jean-Luc Lemire |  France | 8:38.0 | | | 7. José Antonio Campos | Spain | 8:38.2 | | | 8. Milan Slovák | Czechoslovakia | 8:41.4 | | | 9. Tapio Kantanen | Finland | 8:46.0 | | | 10.John Davies | Great Britain | 8:57.4 | | | 11.Jan Hagelbrandt | Sweden | 9:21.1 | |
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