| Venue: Empire Stadium, London. |
| Final | time | | +time | L | t.a. | Y | | 1. Roy Cochran |  USA | 51.1s | OR | | 3 | 51.3 | 29 | | 2. Duncan White |  SRI | 51.8s | | +0.76 | 5 | | 30 | | 3. Rune Larsson |  SWE | 52.2s | | +1.00 | 6 | | 24 | | 4. Dick Ault | USA | 52.4s | | +1.26 | 4 | | 22 | | 5. Yves Cros |  FRA | 53.3s | | +2.18 | 1 | | 24 | | 6. Ottavio Missoni |  ITA | 54.0s | | +2.85 | 2 | | 27 |
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| | | First 3 from each 2 semi-finals progressed to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | +time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Rune Larsson | SWE | 51.9s | OR | | 52.0 | 24 | | 2. Dick Ault | USA | 52.1s | | +0.15 | | 22 | | 3. Duncan White | SRI | 52.1s | | +0.34 | | 30 | | 4. Jean-Claude Arifon | FRA | 52.3s | | +0.39 | | 21 | | 5. Jeff Kirk | USA | 52.5s | | +0.49 | | 24 | | 6. Jacques André | FRA | 56.3s | | | | 29 |
| Semi 2 | time | | +time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Roy Cochran | USA | 51.9s | =OR | | 51.8 | 29 | | 2. Yves Cros | FRA | 52.5s | | +0.84 | | 24 | | 3. Ottavio Missoni | ITA | 53.4s | | +1.50 | | 27 | | 4. Harry Whittle |  GBR | 53.4s | | +1.58 | | 26 | | 5. Bebbe Storskrubb |  FIN | 53.5s | | +1.85 | | 31 | | 6. John Holland |  NZL | 53.9s | | +2.07 | | 21 |
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| Heat 1 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Roy Cochran | USA | 53.9s | 54.0 | 29 | | 2. Jacques André | FRA | 54.5s | | 29 | | 3. Hermenegildo Alberti |  ARG | 54.6s | | 23 | | 4. Jaime Aparicio |  COL | 55.1s | | 18 |
| Heat 2 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Harry Whittle | GBR | 56.9s | 56.9 | 26 | | 2. Jean-Claude Arifon | FRA | 56.9s | | 21 | | 3. Lazaros Petropoulakis |  GRE | 57.9s | | 23 | | 4. Mohsin Nazar Khan |  PAK | 59.5s | | 20 |
| Heat 3 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. John Holland | NZL | 54.6s | | 21 | | 2. Bebbe Storskrubb | FIN | 54.6s | | 31 | | 3. Kemal Horulu |  TUR | 55.1s | | | | 4. Michael Pope | GBR | 55.3s | | 21 |
| Heat 4 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Ottavio Missoni | ITA | 53.9s | 54.1 | 27 | | 2. Rune Larsson | SWE | 54.5s | | 24 | | 3. Ron Unsworth | GBR | 55.1s | | 24 | | 4. Sergio Guzmán |  CHI | 55.9s | | 24 | | 5. Mario Rosas | COL | 55.9s | | |
| Heat 5 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Dick Ault | USA | 54.7s | | 22 | | 2. Yves Cros | FRA | 55.7s | | 24 | | 3. Werner Christen |  SUI | 56.7s | | 34 | | 4. Huang Liangzheng |  CHN | 57.7s | | 26 |
| Heat 6 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Duncan White | SRI | 53.6s | 53.8 | 30 | | 2. Jeff Kirk | USA | 54.3s | | 24 | | 3. Alf Westman | SWE | 54.5s | | 27 | | 4. Bill LaRochelle |  CAN | 54.9s | | 22 |
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