| Final 18:10 | time | | | 1. Juha Väätäinen |  FIN | 13:32.48 | CR NR | | 2. Jean Wadoux |  FRA | 13:33.56 | | | 3. Harald Norpoth |  FRG | 13:33.79 | | | 4. Danijel Korica |  YUG | 13:34.88 | | | 5. Javier Álvarez |  ESP | 13:35.84 | | | 6. Emiel Puttemans |  BEL | 13:36.60 | | | 7. Lasse Virén | FIN | 13:38.46 | | | 8. Bronisław Malinowski |  POL | 13:39.33 | NR | | 9. Frank Eisenberg |  GDR | 13:41.07 | | | 10.Petras Simonelis |  URS | 13:42.78 | | | 11.Michael Baxter |  GBR | 13:43.16 | | | 12.Rune Holmén | FIN | 13:46.50 | | | 13.Allan Rushmer | GBR | 13:48.19 | | | 14.Bernd Dießner | GDR | 13:50.79 | | | -. Vladimir Afonin | URS | DNF | |
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| History Men 5000 | | World Record: Clarke (AUS) 13:16.6 | | European Record: Bedford (GBR) 13:22.4 | | Championship Record: Jazy (FRA) 13:42.8 | | Qualification Standard: 13:47.0 |
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Heats - Thursday 12.08 19:30 | | First 5 progress to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Jean Wadoux | FRA | 13:44.2 | Q | | 2. Javier Alvarez | ESP | 13:44.4 | Q | | 3. Harald Norpoth | FRG | 13:45.6 | Q | | 4. Michael Baxter | GBR | 13:45.6 | Q | | 5. Rune Holmén | FIN | 13:46.4 | Q | | 6. Jos Hermens |  NED | 13:47.2 | NR | | 7. Muharrem Dalkılıç |  TUR | 14:39.0 | | | -. Aleksashin | URS | DNS | | | -. Werner Doessegger |  SUI | DNS | | | -. J. Haase | GDR | DNS | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Juha Väätäinen | FIN | 13:47.6 | Q | | 2. Bernd Dießner | GDR | 13:49.8 | Q | | 3. Bronisław Malinowski | POL | 13:50.0 | Q | | 4. Danijel Korica | YUG | 13:52.8 | Q | | 5. Petras Simonelis | URS | 13:54.4 | Q | | 6. Alan Blinston | GBR | 14:01.2 | | | 7. Egbert Nijstadt | NED | 14:05.2 | | | 8. Wolfgang Falke | FRG | 14:05.6 | | | 9. Giuseppe Ardizzone |  ITA | 14:06.6 | | | 10.Jean-Yves Le Flohic | FRA | 14:10.2 | | | 11.Donald Walsh |  IRL | 14:12.6 | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Emiel Puttemans | BEL | 13:50.4 | Q | | 2. Frank Eisenberg | GDR | 13:52.4 | Q | | 3. Allan Rushmer | GBR | 13:52.6 | Q | | 4. Lasse Virén | FIN | 13:53.2 | Q | | 5. Vladimir Afonin | URS | 13:53.6 | Q | | 6. Giuseppe Cindolo | ITA | 13:54.8 | | | 7. Werner Girke | FRG | 13:56.0 | | | 8. Stanislav Hoffman |  TCH | 13:58.6 | | | 9. Michel Bernard | FRA | 14:02.2 | | | -. Arne Kvalheim |  NOR | DNF | |
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