| | | Final |  | time |  | L |  | 1. Colin Jackson |  Great Britain | 7.59s |  | 5 |  | 2. Holger Pohland |  East Germany | 7.65s |  | 4 |  | 3. Philippe Tourret |  France | 7.67s |  | 3 |  | 4. Jiří Hudec |  Czechoslovakia | 7.69s |  | 2 |  | 5. Carlos Sala |  Spain | 7.72s |  | 1 |  | 6. Florian Schwarthoff |  West Germany | 7.72s |  | 6 |  | 7. Tomasz Nagórka |  Poland | 7.81s |  | 7 |  | 8. Aleš Höffer |  Czechoslovakia | 7.84s |  | 8 | 
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 |  |  | First 3 from each Semi and next Best 2 advanced to Final. | 
 | | Semi 1 |  | time |  |  | 1. Colin Jackson |  Great Britain | 7.53s | Q |  | 5. Jiří Hudec |  Czechoslovakia | 7.71s | Q |  | 6. Carlos Sala |  Spain | 7.72s | Q |  | 8. Tomasz Nagórka |  Poland | 7.76s | q |  | 9. Vladimir Shishkin |  Soviet Union | 7.78s |  |  | 10.Rafał Cieśla |  Poland | 7.79s |  |  | 12.Steve Buckeridge |  Great Britain | 7.80s |  |  | 14.Dietmar Koszewski |  West Germany | 7.81s |  | 
 |  | | Semi 2 |  | time |  |  | 2. Holger Pohland |  East Germany | 7.65s | Q |  | 3. Philippe Tourret |  France | 7.65s | Q |  | 4. Florian Schwarthoff |  West Germany | 7.70s | Q |  | 7. Aleš Höffer |  Czechoslovakia | 7.74s | q |  | 10.Stefan Mattern |  West Germany | 7.79s |  |  | 12.Nigel Walker |  Great Britain | 7.80s |  |  | 15.Paweł Grzegorzewski |  Poland | 7.82s |  |  | 16.Javier Moracho |  Spain | 7.92s |  | 
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 |  |  | First 2 from each Heat and next Best 6 advanced to Semi-Finals. | 
 | | Heat 1 |  | time |  |  | 1. Colin Jackson |  Great Britain | 7.66s | Q |  | 5. Javier Moracho |  Spain | 7.77s | Q |  | 8. Paweł Grzegorzewski |  Poland | 7.80s | q |  | 11.Vladimir Shishkin |  Soviet Union | 7.82s | q |  | 24.Gianni Tozzi |  Italy | 7.99s |  |  | 27.Thomas J. Kearns |  Ireland | 8.08s |  | 
 |  | | Heat 2 |  | time |  |  | 2. Aleš Höffer |  Czechoslovakia | 7.73s | Q |  | 5. Carlos Sala |  Spain | 7.77s | Q |  | 10.Rafał Cieśla |  Poland | 7.81s | q |  | 16.Stefan Mattern |  West Germany | 7.86s | q |  | 28.Igor Kazanov |  Soviet Union | 8.19s |  |  | 30.Antonios Kezos |  Cyprus | 8.40s |  | 
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 | | Heat 3 |  | time |  |  | 12.Jiří Hudec |  Czechoslovakia | 7.83s | Q |  | 13.Steve Buckeridge |  Great Britain | 7.83s | Q |  | 14.Florian Schwarthoff |  West Germany | 7.84s | q |  | 19.György Bakos |  Hungary | 7.92s |  |  | 22.Herwig Röttl |  Austria | 7.94s |  |  | 28.João Lima |  Portugal | 8.19s |  | 
 |  | | Heat 4 |  | time |  |  | 3. Holger Pohland |  East Germany | 7.74s | Q |  | 8. Nigel Walker |  Great Britain | 7.80s | Q |  | 19.Philippe Aubert |  France | 7.92s |  |  | 21.Alain Cuypers |  Belgium | 7.93s |  |  | 23.Lajos Sárközi |  Hungary | 7.97s |  |  | 25.Kai Kyllönen |  Finland | 8.01s |  | 
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 | | Heat 5 |  | time |  |  | 4. Tomasz Nagórka |  Poland | 7.76s | Q |  | 5. Philippe Tourret |  France | 7.77s | Q |  | 14.Dietmar Koszewski |  West Germany | 7.84s | q |  | 17.Ulf Söderman |  Sweden | 7.90s |  |  | 18.Pavel ŀáda |  Czechoslovakia | 7.91s |  |  | 26.Harri Rouhiainen |  Finland | 8.03s |  | 
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