| Final | | time | | gap | L | | 1. Michel Rousseau |  France | 52.9s | | | 4 | | 2. Roland Matthes |  East Germany | 53.5s | NR | 0.6s | 5 | | 3. Georgijs Kuļikovs |  Soviet Union | 53.7s | | 0.8s | 1 | | 4. Leonyid Iljicsov | Soviet Union | 53.7s | | 0.8s | 7 | | 5. Gilles Vigne | France | 54.1s | | 1.2s | 2 | | 6. István Szentirmay |  Hungary | 54.5s | | 1.6s | 6 | | 7. José Chicoy |  Spain | 54.7s | | 1.8s | 8 | | 8. Lutz Unger | East Germany | 55.0s | | 2.1s | 3 |
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Heats - , --th September | | Best 8 times advanced to Final>. |
| Heat 4 | | time | | | 1. Michel Rousseau | France | 52.8s | Q ER | | 2. Roland Matthes | East Germany | 54.0s | Q | | 3. Lutz Unger | East Germany | 54.4s | Q | | 15.Pano Capéronis |  Switzerland | 55.4s | NR | | 19.Jorge Comas | Spain | 55.8s | | | 22.Piotr Chmielewski |  Poland | 56.4s | | | 24.Jan-Erik Korsvold |  Norway | 56.7s | | | 28.Donnacha O’Dea |  Ireland | 59.2s | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 4. Leonyid Iljicsov | Soviet Union | 54.5s | Q | | 8. José Chicoy | Spain | 54.8s | Q | | 9. Malcolm Windeatt |  Great Britain | 54.9s | | | 16.Madsen Ørjan | Norway | 55.6s | | | 18.Csatlós Csaba | Hungary | 55.7s | | | 21.Hanspeter Würmli | Switzerland | 56.3s | | | 27.Andrew Hunter | Ireland | 58.6s | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 4. István Szentirmay | Hungary | 54.5s | Q | | 7. Georgijs Kuļikovs | Soviet Union | 54.7s | Q | | 9. Jansson Göran |  Sweden | 54.9s | | | 12.Fabrizio Nardini |  Italy | 55.1s | | | 13.Roberto Pangaro | Italy | 55.2s | | | 22.Michael Bailey | Great Britain | 56.4s | |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | | 4. Gilles Vigne | France | 54.5s | Q | | 9. Folkert Meeuw |  West Germany | 54.9s | | | 13.Marian Slavic |  Romania | 55.2s | | | 16.Wolfgang Kremer | West Germany | 55.6s | | | 20.François Simons |  Belgium | 56.2s | | | 25.Jovan Kovacic |  Yugoslavia | 56.9s | | | 26.Planitzer Günther |  Austria | 57.6s | |
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