| Final 19:40 | time | | | | 1. John Whetton |  GBR | 3:39.45 | CR | 3:39.45 | | 2. Frank Murphy |  IRL | 3:39.51 | NR | 3:39.51 | | 3. Henryk Szordykowski |  POL | 3:39.87 | | 3:39.87 | | 4. Edgard Salvé |  BEL | 3:39.91 | | 3:39.91 | | 5. André De Hertoghe | BEL | 3:40.9 | | | 6. Jean Wadoux |  FRA | 3:41.7 | | | 7. Pavel Pěnkava |  TCH | 3:41.7 | | | 8. Francesco Arese |  ITA | 3:42.2 | | | 9. Pekka Vasala |  FIN | 3:44.1 | | | 10.Vladimir Panteley |  URS | 3:45.0 | | | 11.Jerzy Maluśki | POL | 3:48.4 | | | 12.Pierre Viaux | FRA | 3:57.3 | |
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| History Men 1500m | | World Record: Ryun (USA) 3:33.1 | | European Record: Jazy (FRA) 3:36.3 | | Heats |
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Heats - Thursday 18.09 10:40 | | First 4 progress to Final. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Frencesco Arese | ITA | 3:53.4 | Q | | 2. John Whetton | GBR | 3:53.6 | Q | | 3. Jerzy Maluśki | POL | 3:53.6 | Q | | 4. Pavel Pěnkava | TCH | 3:53.8 | Q | | 5. Anatoliy Verlan | URS | 3:54.0 | | | 6. Knut Brustad |  NOR | DNF | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. André De Hertoghe | BEL | 3:44.10 | Q | | 2. Henryk Szordykowski | POL | 3:44.1 | Q | | 3. Frank Murphy | IRL | 3:44.3 | Q | | 4. Pierre Viaux | FRA | 3:45.4 | Q | | 5. Jim Douglas | GBR | 3:46.4 | | | 6. Mehmet Tümkan |  TUR | 3:47.0 | | | 7. Hansruedi Knill |  SUI | 3:47.9 | | | 8. Mikhail Zhelobovskiy | URS | 3:48.2 | | | 9. Renzo Finelli | ITA | 3:53.0 | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Edgard Salvé | BEL | 3:53.6 | Q | | 2. Vladimir Panteley | URS | 3:53.6 | Q | | 3. Jean Wadoux | FRA | 3:53.8 | Q | | 4. Pekka Vasala | FIN | 3:53.8 | Q | | 5. John Boulter | GBR | 3:53.9 | | | 6. Atanas Atanasov |  BUL | 3:56.1 | | | 7. Eryk Żelazny | POL | 3:57.8 | |
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