| Final 17:45 | time | & | | 1. Valeriy Borzov |  URS | 20.31s | CR | | 2. Franz-Peter Hofmeister |  FRG | 20.71s | | | 3. Jörg Pfeifer |  GDR | 20.73s | | | 4. Siegfried Schenke | GDR | 20.74s | | | 5. Philippe Clerc |  SUI | 20.86s | | | 6. Pietro Mennea |  ITA | 20.88s | | | 7. Gérard Fenouil |  FRA | 20.92s | | | 8. Aleksandr Zhidkikh | URS | 21.23s | |
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Semi-Finals - Thursday 12.08 17:30 | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | & | | 1. Valeriy Borzov | URS | 20.86s | Q | | 2. Franz-Peter Hofmeister | FRG | 20.93s | Q | | 3. Aleksandr Zhidkikh | URS | 21.04s | Q | | 4. Siegfried Schenke | GDR | 21.21s | Q | | 5. Luis Sarria |  ESP | 21.35s | | | 6. Joseph Arame | FRA | 21.43s | | | 7. Reto Diezi | SUI | 21.53s | | | 8. Jiří Kynos |  TCH | 21.54s | |
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| Semi 2 | time | & | | 1. Gérard Fenouil | FRA | 21.15s | Q | | 2. Pietro Mennea | ITA | 21.23s | Q | | 3. Philippe Clerc | SUI | 21.25s | Q | | 4. Jörg Pfeifer | GDR | 21.29s | Q | | 5. Luděk Bohman | TCH | 21.37s | | | 6. Charles Ducasse | FRA | 21.40s | | | 7. Aleksey Chebykin | URS | 21.45s | | | 8. Zenon Nowosz |  POL | 21.56s | |
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| Heat 1 | time | & | | 1. Franz-Peter Hofmeister | FRG | 20.92s | Q | | 2. Jörg Pfeifer | GDR | 21.35s | Q | | 3. Zenon Nowosz | POL | 21.47s | Q | | 4. Aleksey Chebykin | URS | 21.58s | Q | | 5. José Luis Sánchez | ESP | 21.60s | | | 6. Ladislav Kříž | TCH | 21.71s | | | 7. Bjarni Stefánsson |  ISL | 21.97s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | & | | 1. Aleksandr Zhidkikh | URS | 21.35s | Q | | 2. Charles Ducasse | FRA | 21.40s | Q | | 3. Philippe Clerc | SUI | 21.53s | Q | | 4. Luděk Bohman | TCH | 21.61s | Q | | 5. Jean-Pierre Borlée |  BEL | 21.68s | | | 6. Ertuğrul Oğulbolan |  TUR | 22.1s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | & | | 1. Gérard Fenouil | FRA | 21.14s | Q | | 2. Pietro Mennea | ITA | 21.20s | Q | | 3. Siegfried Schenke | GDR | 21.32s | Q | | 4. Reto Diezi | SUI | 21.47s | Q | | 5. Karl Honz | FRG | 21.52s | | | 6. Ossi Karttunen |  FIN | 21.64s | | | 7. Predrag Križan |  YUG | 21.87s | | | 8. Alexandru Munteanu |  ROU | 22.11s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | & | | 1. Valeriy Borzov | URS | 21.16s | Q | | 2. Joseph Arame | FRA | 21.44s | Q | | 3. Jiří Kynos | TCH | 21.54s | Q | | 4. Luis Sarria | ESP | 21.56s | Q | | 5. Søren Viggo Pedersen |  DEN | 21.69s | | | 6. Martin Reynolds |  GBR | 21.71s | | | 7. Bo Söderberg |  SWE | 21.91s | |
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