| 1. Tom McKean |  Great Britain | 1:46.22 | | | 2. Tomás de Teresa |  Spain | 1:47.22 | | | 3. Zbigniew Janus |  Poland | 1:47.37 | PB | | 4. José Arconada | Spain | 1:47.40 | | | 5. Giuseppe D'Urso |  Italy | 1:49.52 | | | -. Brian Whittle | Great Britain | DNS | |
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| | First - from each Semi advanced to Final. |
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| | | First - from each Heat and next Best 4 advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| 1. Slobodan Popović |  Yugoslavia | 1:49.41 | Q | | 2. Zbigniew Janus | Poland | 1:49.75 | Q | | 15.José Arconada | Spain | 1:53.78 | Q | | -. David Sharpe | Great Britain | DNF | | | -. Esko Parpala |  Finland | DNF | | | -. Simone Modugno | Italy | DQ | | | 4. José Arconada | Spain | 1:49.41 | Q | | 6. Tom McKean | Great Britain | 1:49.82 | Q | | 7. Slobodan Popović | Yugoslavia | 1:50.50 | | | 9. Joachim Dehmel |  West Germany | 1:52.86 | | | 10.Nicola Bonamici | Italy | 1:52.89 | | | -. Martin Enholm |  Sweden | DQ | |
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| 9. Jussi Udelhoven | West Germany | 1:52.09 | Q | | 10.Tom McKean | Great Britain | 1:52.41 | Q | | 11.António Abrantes |  Portugal | 1:52.43 | Q | | 12.Andrey Sudnik |  Soviet Union | 1:52.51 | | | 13.Mark Eplinius |  East Germany | 1:52.79 | | | 14.Luis Javier González | Spain | 1:53.71 | | | 1. Zbigniew Janus | Poland | 1:48.43 | Q | | 2. Brian Whittle | Great Britain | 1:48.43 | Q | | 3. Tomás de Teresa | Spain | 1:49.06 | q | | 5. Giuseppe D'Urso | Italy | 1:49.45 | q | | 8. António Abrantes | Portugal | 1:52.29 | | | 11.Jussi Udelhoven | West Germany | 1:55.43 | |
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| 3. Martin Enholm | Sweden | 1:49.94 | Q | | 4. Giuseppe D'Urso | Italy | 1:50.12 | Q | | 5. Joachim Dehmel | West Germany | 1:50.14 | Q | | 6. Brian Whittle | Great Britain | 1:50.14 | q | | 7. Nicola Bonamici | Italy | 1:50.54 | q | | 8. Tomás de Teresa | Spain | 1:51.89 | q |
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