| Final | | time | | | 1. Peter Wirz |  Switzerland | 3:41.35 | | | 2. Riccardo Materazzi |  Italy | 3:41.57 | | | 3. Thomas Wessinghage |  West Germany | 3:41.75 | | | 4. Antti Loikkanen |  Finland | 3:42.42 | | | 5. Grzegorz Basiak |  Poland | 3:42.71 | | | 6. Robert Nemeth |  Austria | 3:43.28 | | | -. Michel Wijnsberghe |  Belgium | DQ | | | -. José Manuel Abascal |  Spain | DNS | |
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| | | First 2 from each Heat and next Best 4 advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Antti Loikkanen | Finland | 3:40.51 | Q | | 3. José Manuel Abascal | Spain | 3:42.64 | Q | | 9. Jaime López | Spain | 3:43.67 | | | 11.Claudio Patrignani | Italy | 3:43.99 | | | 12.Didier Begouin |  France | 3:44.19 | | | 13.Andreas Baranski | West Germany | 3:44.23 | | | 14.Jonas Lundström |  Sweden | 3:47.04 | | | 16.Mirosław Żerkowski | Poland | 3:49.11 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 2. Riccardo Materazzi | Italy | 3:42.62 | Q | | 4. Michel Wijnsberghe | Belgium | 3:42.76 | Q | | 5. Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 3:42.94 | q | | 6. Robert Nemeth | Austria | 3:43.16 | q | | 7. Peter Wirz | Switzerland | 3:43.30 | q | | 8. Grzegorz Basiak | Poland | 3:43.61 | q | | 10.Moisés Fernández | Spain | 3:43.84 | | | 15.Igor Kristensen |  Norway | 3:47.11 | |
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