| Final | time | +time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Henry Eriksson |  Sweden | 3:49.8 | | 3:50.0 | 28 | | 2. Lennart Strand | Sweden | 3:50.4 | +0.40 | 3:50.4 | 27 | | 3. Wim Slijkhuis |  Netherlands | 3:50.4 | +0.48 | 3:50.5 | 25 | | 4. Václav Čevona |  Czechoslovakia | 3:51.2 | +1.37 | 3:51.4 | 26 | | 5. Bergkvist Gösta | Sweden | 3:52.2 | +2.05 | 3:52.1 | 28 | | 6. Bill Nankeville |  Great Britain | 3:52.6 | +2.51 | 3:52.6 | 23 | | 7. Garay Sándor |  Hungary | 3:54.4 | +4.63 | 3:54.7 | 28 | | 8. Don Gehrmann |  United States | 3:54.5 | +4.65 | 3:54.7 | 20 | | 9. Erik Jørgensen |  Denmark | 3:56.1 | +6.28 | | 28 | | 10.Josy Barthel |  Luxembourg | 3:56.9 | +7.14 | | 21 | | 11.Marcel Hansenne |  France | 4:02.0 | | | 31 | | 12.Denis Johansson |  Finland | | | | 20 |
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| | Venue: Empire Stadium, London. | | Competitors: 36; Countries: 22 |
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Strand was hot favourite to win. Despite losing to Bergkvist in the
Swedish Trials, the nervy world record holder appeared unbeatable.
Bergkvist was the fastest in the heats, but quick times were out of the
question for the final, run in a thunderstorm on an already sludgelike
track. Hansenne had a brainstorm in the first lap running 58.3, and
opening up a 6m gap on the field headed by Gehrmann. The Frenchman
came back to the field in the second lap, and after reaching 800m in
2:02.6 was passed shortly after by the three Swedes, led by Eriksson.
By the 1200m mark (3:05.0) Eriksson had only Strand for company,
but unlike previous encounters he was able to hold off the European
Champion, possibly helped by a stronger physique more suited to the
difficult London conditions. Strand only held on to silver after bump-
ing Slijkhuis as the Dutchman zoomed through on the inside in the last
50m. The official time of 3:50.4 for both men was clearly incorrect
when measured against the photo-finish equipment.
Heats- Wednesday 04.08 | | First 3 from each 4 heats progressed to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Lennart Strand | Sweden | 3:54.2 | 3:54.3 | 27 | | 2. Erik Jørgensen | Denmark | 3:54.2 | | 28 | | 3. Don Gehrmann | United States | 3:54.8 | | 20 | | 4. Frits de Ruijter | Netherlands | 3:55.2 | | 31 | | 5. Olavi Luoto | Finland | 3:58.0 | | 21 | | 6. Henri Klein | France | 3:59.8 | | 28 | | 7. Cahit Önel |  Turkey | 4:00.0? | +0.20 | 20 | | 8. John Joe Barry |  Ireland | 4:00.5? | +0.70 | 22 | | 9. Cliff Salmond |  Canada | 4:16.2? | | | | -. Antero Mongrut |  Peru | | | |
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| Heat 2 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Wim Slijkhuis | Netherlands | 3:52.4 | 3:52.8 | 25 | | 2. Václav Čevona |  Czechoslovakia | 3:53.0 | | 26 | | 3. Denis Johansson | Finland | 3:54.0 | | 20 | | 4. Jack Hutchins | Canada | 3:54.4 | | 22 | | 5. Doug Wilson | Great Britain | 3:54.8 | | 28 | | 6. Clem Eischen | United States | 4:00.2 | | 21 | | 7. Vasilios Mavroidis |  Greece | | | 21 | | 8. Juan Adarraga |  Spain | 4:03.7? | | 24 | | -. Wilfred Tull |  TTO | | | 30 |
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| Heat 3 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Henry Eriksson | Sweden | 3:53.8 | 3:53.8 | 28 | | 2. Bill Nankeville | Great Britain | 3:55.8 | | 23 | | 3. Josy Barthel | Luxembourg | 3:56.4 | | 21 | | 4. Jean Vernier | France | 3:57.6 | | 25 | | 5. Melchor Palmeiro |  ARG | 4:01.6 | | | | 6. Óskar Jónsson |  Iceland | 4:03.2 | | 23 | | 7. Maksut Ä°Ã…Ÿman Rıza | Turkey | | | 34 | | -. Bill Parnell | Canada | DNF | | 20 |
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| Heat 4 | time | t.a. | Y | | 1. Bergkvist Gösta | Sweden | 3:51.8 | 3:51.8 | 28 | | 2. Marcel Hansenne | France | 3:52.8 | | 31 | | 3. Garay Sándor | Hungary | 3:53.0 | | 28 | | 4. Roland Sink | United States | 3:53.2 | | 22 | | 5. Kaare Vefling |  Norway | 3:54.6 | | 28 | | 6. Richard Morris | Great Britain | 3:55.8 | | 27 | | 7. Ingvard Nielsen | Denmark | 4:01.7? | | 23 | | 8. Karl-Heinz Hubler |  Switzerland | 4:03.0? | | 19 | | 9. Lee Yun-Seok |  South Korea | | | |
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