| Final 18:35 | time | | | | 1. John Wrighton |  GBR | 46.3s | CR NR | | 2. John Salisbury | GBR | 46.5s | | | 3. Karl-Friedrich Haas |  FRG | 47.0s | | | 4. Carl Kaufmann | FRG | 47.0s | | | 5. Alf Petersson |  SWE | 47.5s | | | 6. Stanisław Swatowski |  POL | 47.8s | |
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| History Men 400m | | World Record: Jones (USA) 45.2s | | European Record: Harbig (GER), Ignatiev (URS) 46.0s | | Chamnpionship Record: Ignatiev (URS) 46.6s - 1954 |
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| | | First 2 to progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. John Wrighton | GBR | 46.9s | Q | | 2. Karl-Friedrich Haas | FRG | 47.5s | Q | | 3. Bernard Dibonda |  FRA | 48.0s | | | 4. Csaba Csutorás |  HUN | 48.0s | | | 5. Pentti Rekola |  FIN | 48.1s | | | 6. Gerard Mach | POL | 48.5s | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. John Salisbury | GBR | 46.8s | Q | | 2. Carl Kaufmann | FRG | 47.2s | Q | | 3. Voitto Hellstén | FIN | 47.2s | | | 4. Bruno Urben |  SUI | 47.5s | | | 5. Lennart Jonsson | SWE | 47.7s | | | 6. Valentin Rakhmanov |  URS | 48.5s | |
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| Semi 3 | time | | | 1. Stanisław Swatowski | POL | 47.1s | Q | | 2. Alf Petersson | SWE | 47.4s | NR Q | | 3. René Weber | SUI | 47.4s | | | 4. Viktor Šnajder |  YUG | 47.5s | NR | | 5. Traian Sudrigean |  ROU | 48.0s | | | 6. Mikhail Nikolskiy | URS | 48.1s | |
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| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. John Salisbury | GBR | 47.8s | Q | | 2. Csaba Csutorás | HUN | 47.9s | Q | | 3. René Weber | SUI | 48.2s | Q | | 4. Renato Panciera |  ITA | 49.0s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Carl Kaufmann | FRG | 48.0s | Q | | 2. Gerard Mach | POL | 48.3s | Q | | 3. Traian Sudrigean | ROU | 48.8s | Q | | 4. Mario Fraschini | ITA | 49.0s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Lennart Jonsson | SWE | 48.3s | Q | | 2. Mikhail Nikolskiy | URS | 48.3s | Q | | 3. Stanisław Swatowski | POL | 48.4s | Q | | 4. Louis De Clerck |  BEL | 48.9s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Alf Petersson | SWE | 47.8s | Q | | 2. Viktor Šnajder | YUG | 47.9s | Q | | 3. John Wrighton | GBR | 47.9s | Q | | 4. Michael Gialanze |  MLT | 53.4s | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. Karl-Friedrich Haas | FRG | 48.2s | Q | | 2. Bruno Urben | SUI | 48.4s | Q | | 3. Pentti Rekola | FIN | 48.4s | Q | | 4. Jaroslav Jirásek |  TCH | 48.6s | | | 5. Richard Stiger |  AUT | 49.0s | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Valentin Rakhmanov | URS | 48.1s | Q | | 2. Bernard Dibonda | FRA | 48.7s | Q | | 3. Voitto Hellstén | FIN | 48.9s | Q | | 4. Vasilios Syllis |  GRE | 49.2s | | | 5. Fahir Özgüden |  TUR | 49.8s | |
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