| Final | time | L | | 1. Edwin Moses |  USA | 47.50s | | 2. Harald Schmid |  FRG | 48.61s | | 3. Aleksandr Kharlov |  URS | 49.03s | | 4. Sven Nylander |  SWE | 49.06s | | 5. Andre Phillips | USA | 49.24s | | 6. David Lee | USA | 49.32s | | 7. Amadou Dia Ba |  SEN | 49.61s | | 8. Ryszard Szparak |  POL | 49.78s |
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| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Edwin Moses | USA | 48.11s | | 2. Andre Phillips | USA | 48.99s | | 3. Amadou Dia Ba | SEN | 49.18s | | 4. Aleksandr Kharlov | URS | 49.75s | | 5. Ahmed Hamada |  BHR | 50.04s | | 6. Franz Meier |  SUI | 50.31s | | 7. Rik Tommelein |  BEL | 50.54s | | -. Toma Tomov |  BUL | DNF |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Harald Schmid | FRG | 48.57s | | 2. David Lee | USA | 48.63s | | 3. Ryszard Szparak | POL | 49.17s | | 4. Sven Nylander | SWE | 49.18s | | 5. Daniel Ogidi |  NGR | 49.51s | | 6. Jose Alonso |  ESP | 49.91s | | 7. Karl Smith |  JAM | 49.99s | | 8. Krasimir Demirev | BUL | 50.91s |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Andre Phillips | USA | 50.44s | | 2. Rik Tommelein | BEL | 50.99s | | 3. Gary Oakes |  GBR | 51.23s | | 4. Ian Newhouse |  CAN | 51.45s | | 5. Meshak Munyoro |  KEN | 53.25s | | 6. Paiwa Bogela |  PNG | 54.68s | | -. Aleksandr Yatsevich | URS | DNF |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Aleksandr Kharlov | URS | 50.12s | | 2. Sven Nylander | SWE | 50.23s | | 3. Jose Alonso | ESP | 50.53s | | 4. Vladislav Pecen |  TCH | 50.86s | | 5. Istvan Takacs |  HUN | 50.97s | | 6. Peter Rwamuhanda |  UGA | 50.99s |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. David Lee | USA | 50.15s | | 2. Toma Tomov | BUL | 50.39s | | 3. Karl Smith | JAM | 50.64s | | 4. Thomas Futterknecht |  AUT | 50.68s | | 5. Antonio Diaz Ferreira |  BRA | 50.76s | | 6. Stephen Sole | GBR | 51.80s | | 7. Ahmed Abdelhalim Ghanem |  EGY | 52.32s |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Edwin Moses | USA | 49.54s | | 2. Daniel Ogidi | NGR | 50.44s | | 3. Amadou Dia Ba | SEN | 50.59s | | 4. Krasimir Demirev | BUL | 50.62s | | 5. Greg Rolle |  BAH | 50.92s | | 6. Rok Kopitar |  YUG | 52.34s | | 7. Carlos Azulay | ESP | DQ |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Harald Schmid | FRG | 49.99s | | 2. Ryszard Szparak | POL | 50.09s | | 3. Franz Meier | SUI | 50.09s | | 4. Ahmed Hamada | BHR | 50.53s | | 5. Petter Hesselberg |  NOR | 51.67s | | 6. Georgios Vamvakas |  GRE | 51.92s | | 7. David Charlton | BAH | 52.02s |
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