| Final | time | | 1. Francesco Panetta |  Italy | 8:12.66 | | 2. Mark Rowland |  Great Britain | 8:13.27 | | 3. Alessandro Lambruschini | Italy | 8:15.82 | | 4. Angelo Carosi | Italy | 8:17.48 | | 5. William Van Dijck |  Belgium | 8:21.71 | | 6. Tom Hanlon | Great Britain | 8:21.73 | | 7. Hagen Melzer |  East Germany | 8:22.48 | | 8. Bruno le Stum |  France | 8:23.39 | | 9. Antonio Peula |  Spain | 8:24.47 | | 10.Benito Nogales | Spain | 8:26.11 | | 11.Jose Carlos Pereira |  Portugal | 8:27.04 | | -. Joseph Mahmoud | France | DNF |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Mark Rowland | Great Britain | 8:22.55 | | 2. William Van Dijck | Belgium | 8:23.05 | | 3. Alessandro Lambruschini | Italy | 8:23.16 | | 4. Bruno le Stum | France | 8:23.21 | | 5. Benito Nogales | Spain | 8:23.52 | | 6. Jose Carlos Pereira | Portugal | 8:23.92 | | 7. Vasily Koromyslov |  Soviet Union | 8:24.19 | | 8. Colin Walker | Great Britain | 8:26.95 | | 9. Jorgen Salo |  Finland | 8:27.98 | | 10.Nihat Bagci |  Turkey | 8:52.34 |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Francesco Panetta | Italy | 8:20.65 | | 2. Tom Hanlon | Great Britain | 8:21.76 | | 3. Angelo Carosi | Italy | 8:21.80 | | 4. Hagen Melzer | East Germany | 8:22.81 | | 5. Antonio Peula | Spain | 8:23.47 | | 6. Joseph Mahmoud | France | 8:24.36 | | 7. Boguslaw Maminski |  Poland | 8:24.82 | | 8. MichaelHeist |  West Germany | 8:24.97 | | 9. Vule Maksimovic |  Yugoslavia | 8:33.07 | | 10.Valerey Vandjak | Soviet Union | 8:43.72 |
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