| Final | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Bruce Furniss | USA | 1:50.29 | 1. | | 2. John Naber | USA | 1:50.50 | 8. | | 3. Jim Montgomery | USA | 1:50.58 | 4. | | 4. Andrey Krylov | URS | 1:50.73 | 3. | | 5. Klaus Steinbach | FRG | 1:51.09 | 2. | | 6. Peter Nocke | FRG | 1:51.71 | 5. | | 7. Gordon Downie | GBR | 1:52.78 | 6. | | 8. Andrey Bogdanov | URS | 1:53.33 | 7. |
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| Heat 6 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Jim Montgomery | USA | 1:51.77 | 4. | | 2. Bill Sawchuk | CAN | 1:54.07 | 13. | | 3. Rainer Strohbach | GDR | 1:55.25 | 19. | | 4. Paolo Revelli | ITA | 1:57.25 | 30. | | 5. Andy Knowles | BAH | 2:00.18 | 42. | | 6. Lutz Löscher | GDR | 2:01.00 | 47. | | 7. Gianni Versari | PAN | 2:02.25 | 50. |
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| Heat 5 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Peter Nocke | FRG | 1:52.16 | 5. | | 2. Gordon Downie | GBR | 1:52.47 | 6. | | 3. Stephen Badger | CAN | 1:53.86 | 12. | | 4. André in 't Veld | NED | 1:57.60 | 32. | | 5. John McConnochie | NZL | 1:57.77 | 33. | | 6. Mark Crocker | HKG | 2:00.81 | 46. | | 7. Paulo Frischknecht | POR | 2:02.65 | 51. |
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| Heat 4 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Andrey Krylov | URS | 1:51.42 | 3. | | 2. Graham Windeatt | AUS | 1:54.35 | 15. | | 3. James Hett | CAN | 1:55.58 | 22. | | 4. Ali Gharbi | TUN | 1:55.82 | 24. | | 5. Steven Newkirk | USV | 1:59.95 | 40. | | 6. José Pereira | POR | 2:03.03 | 53. |
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| Heat 3 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Klaus Steinbach | FRG | 1:51.41 | 2. | | 2. Marcello Guarducci | ITA | 1:53.72 | 11. | | 3. Roberto Pangaro | ITA | 1:55.30 | 20. | | 4. Werner Lampe | FRG | 1:56.01 | 26. | | 5. Kevin Williamson | IRE | 2:00.08 | 41. | | 6. Nikolay Ganev | BUL | 2:00.54 | 43. | | 7. Frank Richardson | NIC | 2:12.33 | 55. |
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| Heat 2 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Andrey Bogdanov | URS | 1:52.71 | 7. | | 2. Brian Brinkley | GBR | 1:53.07 | 9. | | 3. David López-Zubero | ESP | 1:54.88 | 17. | | 4. Georgios Karpouzis | GRE | 1:59.25 | 36. | | 5. Eduardo Pérez | MEX | 1:59.53 | 37. | | 6. Tomas Becerra | COL | 2:00.72 | 45. |
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| Heat 1 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Sergey Koplyakov | URS | 1:53.44 | 10. | | 2. René van der Kuil | NED | 1:55.59 | 23. | | 3. Bengt Gingsjö | SWE | 1:56.31 | 27. | | 4. Fritz Warncke | NOR | 1:57.59 | 31. | | 5. Tsuyoshi Yanagidate | JPN | 1:58.04 | 34. | | 6. Luis Goicoechea | VEN | 1:59.68 | 39. | | 7. Kris Sumono | INA | 2:01.12 | 48. |
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