| Final | time | | 1. Francesco Panetta |  ITA | 8:08.57 | | 2. Hagen Melzer |  GDR | 8:10.32 | | 3. William Van Dijck |  BEL | 8:12.18 | | 4. Brian Diemer |  USA | 8:14.46 | | 5. Graeme Fell |  CAN | 8:16.46 | | 6. Henry Marsh | USA | 8:17.78 | | 7. Peter Koech |  KEN | 8:20.08 | | 8. Patrick Sang | KEN | 8:20.45 | | 9. Alessandro Lambruschini | ITA | 8:24.25 | | 10.Raymond Pannier |  FRA | 8:26.50 | | 11.Jose Regalo |  POR | 8:27.64 | | 12.Patriz Ilg |  FRG | 8:38.46 | | 13.Franco Boffi | ITA | 8:43.60 | | 14.Roger Hackney |  GBR | 8:48.86 | | -. Joshua Kipkemboi | KEN | DNF |
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| Round | H | Athl. | date | | Heats | 3 | 38 | 03.09 |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Francesco Panetta | ITA | 8:16.08 | | 2. Raymond Pannier | FRA | 8:16.93 | | 3. William Van Dijck | BEL | 8:19.19 | | 4. Patrick Sang | KEN | 8:22.26 | | 5. Eddie Wedderburn | GBR | 8:24.09 | | 6. Adauto Domingues |  BRA | 8:26.67 | | 7. Bela Vago |  HUN | 8:27.24 | | 8. Francisco Sanchez |  ESP | 8:34.29 | | 9. Michael Heist | FRG | 8:38.80 | | 10.Brian Abshire | USA | 8:39.97 | | 11.Liam O'Brien |  IRL | 8:40.88 | | 12.Herman Hofstee |  NED | 8:44.04 | | 13.Emilio Ulloa |  CHI | 8:44.51 |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Joshua Kipkemboi | KEN | 8:20.75 | | 2. Hagen Melzer | GDR | 8:21.07 | | 3. Alessandro Lambruschini | ITA | 8:21.21 | | 4. Brian Diemer | USA | 8:21.32 | | 5. Fethi Baccouche |  TUN | 8:22.75 | | 6. Boguslaw Maminski |  POL | 8:24.32 | | 7. Tommy Ekblom |  FIN | 8:24.66 | | 8. Ricardo Vera |  URU | 8:36.80 | | 9. Colin Reitz | GBR | 8:40.55 | | 10.Shigeyuki Aikyo |  JPN | 8:41.41 | | 11.Espen Borge |  NOR | 8:47.34 | | 12.Ramon Lopez |  PAR | 9:10.29 | | -. Flemming Jensen |  DEN | DNF |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Patriz Ilg | FRG | 8:18.73 | | 2. Graeme Fell | CAN | 8:18.87 | | 3. Peter Koech | KEN | 8:19.28 | | 4. Jose Regalo | POR | 8:20.70 | | 5. Henry Marsh | USA | 8:20.98 | | 6. Roger Hackney | GBR | 8:21.35 | | 7. Franco Boffi | ITA | 8:21.69 | | 8. Bruno Le Stum | FRA | 8:23.61 | | 9. Valeriy Vandyak |  URS | 8:30.43 | | 10.Hans Koeleman | NED | 8:41.80 | | 11.Domingo Ramon | ESP | 8:42.35 | | -. Miroslaw Zerkowski | POL | DNF |
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