| Final 17:20 | time | | | 1. Bronisław Malinowski |  POL | 8:15.0/04 | CR NR | | 2. Anders Gärderud |  SWE | 8:15.4/41 | | | 3. Michael Karst |  FRG | 8:17.0/91 | NR | | 4. Franco Fava |  ITA | 8:18.0/85 | NR | | 5. Hanspeter Wehrli |  SUI | 8:26.2/13 | | | 6. Gheorghe Cefan |  ROU | 8:26.2/19 | | | 7. Gerd Frähmcke | FRG | 8:26.6/53 | | | 8. Gérard Buchheit |  FRA | 8:30.2 | | | 9. Dan Glans | SWE | 8:31.4 | | | 10.Dušan Moravčík |  TCH | 8:34.4 | | | 11.Tapio Kantanen |  FIN | 8:43.2 | | | 12.František Bartoš | TCH | 8:49.6 | |
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Heats - Wednesday 04.09 | | First 3 and Best 3 progress. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Franco Fava | ITA | 8:25.07 | Q | | 2. Michael Karst | FRG | 8:26.4 | Q | | 3. Dan Glans | SWE | 8:28.0 | Q | | 4. Paul Thys |  BEL | 8:34.2 | | | 5. Jean-Paul Villain | FRA | 8:45.0 | | | 6. John Bicourt |  GBR | 8:52.4 | | | 7. Arne Risa |  NOR | 8:58.8 | | | -. Karl-Åge Søltoft |  DEN | DNF | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Bronisław Malinowski | POL | 8:23.60 | CR Q | | 2. Tapio Kantanen | FIN | 8:23.6 | Q | | 3. František Bartoš | TCH | 8:32.0 | Q | | 4. John Davies | GBR | 8:36.0 | | | 5. Sverre Sørnes | NOR | 8:44.2 | | | 6. Herbert Leyens | BEL | 8:45.4 | | | 7. Patrick Martin | FRA | 8:46.8 | | | 8. Eddy Leddy |  IRL | 9:04.6 | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Anders Gärderud | SWE | 8:23.62 | CR Q | | 2. Gheorghe Cefan | ROU | 8:25.80 | NR Q | | 3. Hanspeter Wehrli | SUI | 8:26.00 | NR Q | | 4. Gerd Frähmcke | FRG | 8:26.80 | q | | 5. Dušan Moravčík | TCH | 8:28.00 | q | | 6. Gérard Buchheit | FRA | 8:31.00 | q | | 7. José Antonio Campos |  ESP | 8:38.20 | | | 8. David Camp | GBR | 8:44.40 | |
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