| Final | | time | | | 1. Dietmar Millonig |  Austria | 7:59.08 | | | 2. Stefano Mei |  Italy | 7:59.12 | | | 3. João Campos |  Portugal | 7:59.15 | | | 4. Gábor Szabó |  Hungary | 7:59.99 | | | 5. Thomas Wessinghage |  West Germany | 8:00.76 | | | 6. Walter Merlo | Italy | 8:03.29 | | | 7. António Leitão | Portugal | 8:03.43 | | | 8. Lubomír Tesáček |  Czechoslovakia | 8:04.74 | | | 9. Abel Antón |  Spain | 8:09.31 | | | 10.Billy Dee |  Great Britain | 8:14.61 | | | 11.Czesław Mojżysz |  Poland | 8:20.16 | | | -. Mark Roberts | Great Britain | DNF | |
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Heats - Saturday, 22nd February | | First 4 of each Heat and next Best 4 advanced to Final. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Thomas Wessinghage | West Germany | 8:01.01 | Q | | 2. António Leitão | Portugal | 8:01.13 | Q | | 4. Dietmar Millonig | Austria | 8:01.46 | Q | | 5. Stefano Mei | Italy | 8:01.50 | Q | | 6. João Campos | Portugal | 8:02.20 | q | | 9. Lubomír Tesáček | Czechoslovakia | 8:03.53 | q | | 11.Billy Dee | Great Britain | 8:04.11 | q | | 16.Jaime López | Spain | 8:21.23 | | | 17.Yorgos Petrakis |  Greece | 8:22.22 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 3. Walter Merlo | Italy | 8:01.14 | Q | | 7. Gábor Szabó | Hungary | 8:02.55 | Q | | 8. Mark Roberts | Great Britain | 8:03.35 | Q | | 10.Czesław Mojżysz | Poland | 8:04.10 | Q | | 12.Abel Antón | Spain | 8:05.09 | q | | 13.Peter Belger | West Germany | 8:14.84 | | | 14.José Regalo | Portugal | 8:16.52 | | | 15.José Manuel Abascal | Spain | 8:17.33 | | | 18.Panayotis Fotiou | Greece | 8:49.97 | | | -. Luboš Gaisl | Czechoslovakia | DNF | |
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