| Venue: Empire Stadium, London. |
| Final | time | +time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Henry Eriksson |  SWE | 3:49.8 | | 3:50.0 | 28 | | 2. Lennart Strand | SWE | 3:50.4 | +0.40 | | 27 | | 3. Wim Slijkhuis |  NED | 3:50.4 | +0.48 | | 25 | | 4. Václav Čevona |  TCH | 3:51.2 | +1.37 | | 26 | | 5. Bergkvist Gösta | SWE | 3:52.2 | +2.05 | | 28 | | 6. Bill Nankeville |  GBR | 3:52.6 | +2.51 | | 23 | | 7. Garay Sándor |  HUN | 3:54.4 | +4.63 | | 28 | | 8. Don Gehrmann |  USA | 3:54.5 | +4.65 | | 20 | | 9. Erik Jørgensen |  DEN | 3:56.1 | +6.28 | | 28 | | 10.Josy Barthel |  LUX | 3:56.9 | +7.14 | | 21 | | 11.Marcel Hansenne |  FRA | 4:02.0 | | | 31 | | 12.Denis Johansson |  FIN | | | | 20 |
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Heats- Wednesday 04.08 | | First 3 from each 4 heats progressed to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Lennart Strand | SWE | 3:54.2 | 3:54.3 | 27 | | 2. Erik Jørgensen | DEN | 3:54.2 | | 28 | | 3. Don Gehrmann | USA | 3:54.8 | | 20 | | 4. Frits de Ruijter | NED | 3:55.2 | | 31 | | 5. Olavi Luoto | FIN | 3:58.0 | | 21 | | 6. Henri Klein | FRA | 3:59.8 | | 28 | | 7. Cahit Önel |  TUR | 4:00.0? | +0.20 | 20 | | 8. John Joe Barry |  IRL | 4:00.5? | +0.70 | 22 | | 9. Cliff Salmond |  CAN | 4:16.2? | | | | -. Antero Mongrut |  PER | | | |
| Heat 2 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Wim Slijkhuis | NED | 3:52.4 | 3:52.8 | 25 | | 2. Václav Čevona | TCH | 3:53.0 | | 26 | | 3. Denis Johansson | FIN | 3:54.0 | | 20 | | 4. Jack Hutchins | CAN | 3:54.4 | | 22 | | 5. Doug Wilson | GBR | 3:54.8 | | 28 | | 6. Clem Eischen | USA | 4:00.2 | | 21 | | 7. Vasilios Mavroidis |  GRE | &s | | 21 | | 8. Juan Adarraga |  ESP | 4:03.7? | | 24 | | -. Wilfred Tull |  TTO | | | 30 |
| Heat 3 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Henry Eriksson | SWE | 3:53.8 | 3:53.8 | 28 | | 2. Bill Nankeville | GBR | 3:55.8 | | 23 | | 3. Josy Barthel | LUX | 3:56.4 | | 21 | | 4. Jean Vernier | FRA | 3:57.6 | | 25 | | 5. Melchor Palmeiro |  ARG | 4:01.6 | | | | 6. Óskar Jónsson |  ISL | 4:03.2 | | 23 | | 7. Maksut İşman Rıza | TUR | | | 34 | | -. Bill Parnell | CAN | DNF | | 20 |
| Heat 4 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Bergkvist Gösta | SWE | 3:51.8 | 3:51.8 | 28 | | 2. Marcel Hansenne | FRA | 3:52.8 | | 31 | | 3. Garay Sándor | HUN | 3:53.0 | | 28 | | 4. Roland Sink | USA | 3:53.2 | | 22 | | 5. Kaare Vefling |  NOR | 3:54.6 | | 28 | | 6. Richard Morris | GBR | 3:55.8 | | 27 | | 7. Ingvard Nielsen | DEN | 4:01.7? | | 23 | | 8. Karl-Heinz Hubler |  SUI | 4:03.0? | | 19 | | 9. Lee Yun-Seok |  KOR | | | |
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