| Final | | time | | L | | 1. Linford Christie |  Great Britain | 21.10s | | 4 | | 2. Aleksandr Yevgenyev |  Soviet Union | 21.18s | | 3 | | 3. Nikolay Razgonov | Soviet Union | 21.48s | | 2 | | 4. Daniel Sangouma |  France | 21.78s | | 1 |
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| | First 2 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | | time | | | 1. Aleksandr Yevgenyev | Soviet Union | 21.17s | Q | | 4. Daniel Sangouma | France | 21.47s | Q | | 5. Norbert Dobeleit |  West Germany | 21.60s | | | 8. Juan Prado |  Spain | 22.70s | |
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| Semi 2 | | time | | | 2. Nikolay Razgonov | Soviet Union | 21.29s | Q | | 3. Linford Christie | Great Britain | 21.33s | Q | | 6. Ronald Desruelles |  Belgium | 22.04s | | | 7. Juha Pyy |  Finland | 22.57s | |
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Heats - Saturday, 22nd February | | Winner of each Heat and next Best 3 advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | | time | | | 1. Aleksandr Yevgenyev | Soviet Union | 21.23s | Q | | 3. Linford Christie | Great Britain | 21.42s | q | | 4. Daniel Sangouma | France | 21.42s | q | | 13.Luís Cunha |  Portugal | 22.02s | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | 7. Ronald Desruelles | Belgium | 21.83s | Q | | 9. Jacek Licznerski |  Poland | 21.90s | | | 16.Angelos Angelidis |  Cyprus | 22.51s | | | -. Ade Mafe | Great Britain | DNF | |
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| Heat 3 | | time | | | 5. Norbert Dobeleit | West Germany | 21.78s | Q | | 14.Carlos Turró | Spain | 22.05s | | | 15.Lars Pedersen |  Denmark | 22.08s | | | 17.Yann Quentrec | France | 23.09s | PB |
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| Heat 4 | | time | | | 8. Juan Prado | Spain | 21.87s | Q | | 11.Roland Jokl |  Austria | 21.92s | | | 12.Anri Grigorov |  Bulgaria | 22.01s | | | 16.Marco De Pasquale |  Italy | 22.42s | |
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| Heat 5 | | time | | | 2. Nikolay Razgonov | Soviet Union | 21.26s | Q | | 5. Juha Pyy | Finland | 21.78s | q | | 9. Krzysztof Zwoliński | Poland | 21.90s | | | -. Andreas Berger | Austria | DNF | |
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