| Final | | time | | | 1. Alfons Brijdenbach |  Belgium | 46.53s | NR | | 2. Francis Demarthon |  France | 47.11s | | | 3. Marian Gęsicki |  Poland | 47.21s | | | 4. Hector Llatser | France | 47.47s | | | 5. Glen Cohen |  Great Britain | 47.57s | | | 6. Edward Antczak | Poland | 47.82s | |
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| | First 2 from each Semi and next Best 2 advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | | time | | | 1. Marian Gęsicki | Poland | 46.97s | Q | | 2. Glen Cohen | Great Britain | 47.07s | Q | | 3. Alfons Brijdenbach | Belgium | 47.64s | q | | 6. Hector Llatser | France | 48.00s | q | | 10.Franz-Peter Hofmeister |  West Germany | 48.68s | | | 11.Luis Sarría |  Spain | 49.30s | |
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| Semi 2 | | time | | | 4. Edward Antczak | Poland | 47.67s | Q | | 5. Francis Demarthon | France | 47.76s | Q | | 7. Ludger Zander | West Germany | 48.13s | | | 8. Slavcho Kostov |  Bulgaria | 48.20s | | | 9. Flavio Borghi |  Italy | 48.60s | | | -. Eddy De Leeuw | Belgium | DNS | |
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Heats - Saturday, 12th March | | First 2 from each Heat and next Best 6 advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Alfons Brijdenbach | Belgium | 48.18s | Q | | 5. Glen Cohen | Great Britain | 48.34s | Q | | 7. Edward Antczak | Poland | 48.41s | q | | 11.Luis Sarría | Spain | 48.61s | q | | 12.Flavio Borghi | Italy | 48.63s | q |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 4. Hector Llatser | France | 48.30s | Q | | 7. Franz-Peter Hofmeister | West Germany | 48.41s | Q | | 10.Marian Gęsicki | Poland | 48.48s | q | | 15.Jenaro Iritia | Spain | 49.20s | | | 16.Roberto Tozzi | Italy | 49.38s | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 2. Francis Demarthon | France | 48.24s | Q | | 3. Eddy De Leeuw | Belgium | 48.29s | Q | | 6. Ludger Zander | West Germany | 48.35s | q | | 9. Slavcho Kostov | Bulgaria | 48.46s | q | | 13.Michael Frederiksson |  Sweden | 48.86s | | | 14.Cezary Łapiński | Poland | 49.02s | |
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