Final | time | | 1. Saïd Aouita | Marocco | 13:05.59 | OR | 2. Markus Ryffel | Switzerland | 13:07.54 | | 3. António Leitão | Portugal | 13:09.20 | | 4. Tim Hutchings | Great Britain | 13:11.50 | | 5. Paul Kipkoech | Kenya | 13:14.40 | | 6. Charles Cheruiyot | Kenya | 13:18.41 | | 7. Doug Padilla | United States | 13:23.56 | | 8. John Walker | New Zealand | 13:24.46 | | 9. Ezequiel Canário | Portugal | 13:26.50 | | 10.Wilson Waigwa | Kenya | 13:27.34 | | 11.Ray Flynn | Ireland | 13:34.50 | | 12.Mats Erixon | Sweden | 13:41.64 | | 13.Eamonn Martin | Great Britain | 13:53.34 | | 14.David Moorcroft | Great Britain | 14:16.61 | | -. Martti Vainio | Finland | DNS | |
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| Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 100,000. -- competitors from -- nations. |
Vainio was not permitted to start in the final after he tested positive for metenolone following the 10000 meters final!
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| First 6 from each Semi and Best 3 times advanced to Final. |
Semi 1 | time | | 1. Wilson Waigwa | Kenya | 13:38.59 | Q | 2. António Leitão | Portugal | 13:39.76 | Q | 3. Markus Ryffel | Switzerland | 13:40.08 | Q | 4. Ray Flynn | Ireland | 13:40.74 | Q | 5. Eamonn Martin | Great Britain | 13:41.70 | Q | 6. Doug Padilla | United States | 13:41.73 | | 7. Zakariah Barie | Tanzania | 13:43.49 | | 8. Gerardo Alcala | Mexico | 13:45.98 | | 9. Paul Williams | Canada | 13:46.34 | | 10.Steve Lacy | United States | 13:46.65 | | 11.Omar Aguilar | Chile | 13:51.13 | | 12.Zephaniah Ncube | Zimbabwe | 13:53.25 | | 13.Abdelrazzak Bounor | Algeria | 13:57.43 | | 14.Antti Loikkanen | Finland | 13:58.74 | | -. Uwe Mönkemeyer | West Germany | DNF | |
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Semi 2 | time | | 1. Saïd Aouita | Marocco | 13:28.39 | Q | 2. David Moorcroft | Great Britain | 13:28.44 | Q | 3. John Walker | New Zealand | 13:28.48 | Q | 4. Charles Cheruiyot | Kenya | 13:28.56 | Q | 5. Tim Hutchings | Great Britain | 13:28.60 | Q | 6. Paul Kipkoech | Kenya | 13:29.08 | | 7. Mats Erixon | Sweden | 13:29.72 | | 8. Martti Vainio | Finland | 13:30.48 | | 9. Ezequiel Canário | Portugal | 13:32.64 | | 10.João Campos | Portugal | 13:34.46 | | 11.Eduardo Castro | Mexico | 13:42.04 | | 12.Don Clary | United States | 13:46.02 | | 13.Bob Verbeeck | Belgium | 13:46.03 | | 14.Salvatore Antibo | Italy | 13:47.53 | | -. Christoph Herle | West Germany | DNFs | |
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| First 6 from each Heat and Best 6 times advanced to Semi-Finals. |
Heat 1 | time | | 1. Ezequiel Canário | Portugal | 13:43.28 | | 2. Martti Vainio | Finland | 13:45.16 | | 3. Tim Hutchings | Great Britain | 13:46.01 | | 4. Ray Flynn | Ireland | 13:46.84 | | 5. Wilson Waigwa | Kenya | 13:48.84 | | 6. Doug Padilla | United States | 13:52.56 | | 7. Vincent Rousseau | Belgium | 13:57.96 | | 8. José João da Silva | Brazil | 14:03.44 | | 9. Jorge García | Spain | 14:12.15 | | 10.Mohamed Rutitinga | Tanzania | 14:27.78 | | 11.Julio Gómez | Argentina | 14:28.48 | | 12.George Mambosasa | Malawi | 14:48.08 | | 13.Basil Kilani | Jordan | 15:20.58 | | 14.Nimley Twegbe | Liberia | 17:36.69 | | -. Ali Mohamed Hufane | Somalia | DNF | |
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Heat 2 | time | | 1. Mats Erixon | Sweden | 13:44.45 | | 2. John Walker | New Zealand | 13:44.75 | | 3. Don Clary | United States | 13:44.97 | | 4. Saïd Aouita | Marocco | 13:45.66 | | 5. Bob Verbeeck | Belgium | 13:46.27 | | 6. Christoph Herle | West Germany | 13:46.35 | | 7. Paul Williams | Canada | 13:47.56 | | 8. Stijn Jaspers | Netherlands | 13:58.51 | | 9. Ahmed Musa Jouda | Sudan | 13:59.41 | | 10.Piero Selvaggio | Italy | 14:04.74 | | 11.Necdet Ayaz | Turkey | 14:36.89 | | 12.Eugène Muslar | Belize | 15:05.78 | | 13.John Tau | Papua New Guinea | 15:24.68 | | 14.Ruddy Cornielle | Dominicana | 17:16.77 | | -. Fethi Baccouche | Tunisia | DNF | |
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Heat3 | time | | 1. Charles Cheruiyot | Kenya | 13:45.99 | | 2. Eamonn Martin | Great Britain | 13:46.16 | | 3. Markus Ryffel | Switzerland | 13:46.16 | | 4. Steve Lacy | United States | 13:46.16 | | 5. João Campos | Portugal | 13:46.27 | | 6. Salvatore Antibo | Italy | 13:46.32 | | 7. Zephaniah Ncube | Zimbabwe | 13:46.33 | | 8. Uwe Mönkemeyer | West Germany | 13:48.66 | | 9. Gerardo Alcala | Mexico | 13:50.60 | | 10.Arie Gamliel | Israel | 14:02.98 | | 11.Alphonse Swai | Tanzania | 14:22.20 | | 12.Luis Tipán | Ecuador | 14:52.43 | | 13.Ramón López | Paraguay | 15:15.64 | |
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Heat 4 | time | | 1. António Leitão | Portugal | 13:51.33 | | 2. Dave Moorcroft | Great Britain | 13:51.40 | | 3. Eduardo Castro | Mexico | 13:51.46 | | 4. Antti Loikkanen | Finland | 13:51.47 | | 5. Abdel Razzak Bounour | Algeria | 13:51.52 | | 6. Omar Aguilar | Chile | 13:51.53 | | 7. Paul Kipkoech | Kenya | 13:51.54 | | 8. Zakariah Barie | Tanzania | 13:53.00 | | 9. Antonio Selvaggio | Italy | 13:55.73 | | 10.Roger Soler | Peru | 14:28.26 | | 11.Orlando Mora | Costa Rica | 14:33.49 | | 12.Masini Situ-Kumbanga | Zaire | 15:02.52 | | 13.Ali Al-Ghadi | North Yemen | 16:06.58 | |
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