| Final | time | L | 200m | 400m | | 1. Thomas Schonlebe |  GDR | 44.33s | 3 | 21.40s | 22.93s | | 2. Innocent Egbunike |  NGR | 44.56s | 5 | 21.14s | 23.42s | | 3. Harry Reynolds |  USA | 44.80s | 7 | 21.71s | 23.09s | | 4. Roberto Hernandez |  CUB | 44.99s | 2 | 21.48s | 23.51s | | 5. Derek Redmond |  GBR | 45.06s | 6 | 21.36s | 23.70s | | 6. David Kitur |  KEN | 45.34s | 8 | 21.73s | 23.61s | | 7. Gabriel Tiacoh |  CIV | 46.27s | 4 | 22.17s | 24.10s | | 8. Roddie Haley | USA | 46.77s | 1 | 21.30s | 25.47s |
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Nineteen eighty-seven saw the emergence of Reynolds, who cut the world low-altitude best to 44.10 and clocked a total of eight sub-44.50s prior to the World Championships. Unfortunately, the American was weakened by intestinal problems in Rome and struggled to qualify for the final. Egbunike, meanwhile, impressed greatly with a 44.26 semifinal (21.11 at halfway).
The Nigerian (lane 7) went out quickest in the final but was tracked by Schönlebe (lane 3), who had placed sixth as a teenager in Helsinki. The tall, bespectacled East German – unbeaten all year – proved to be much stronger and passed Egbunike in the last 60m to win. He broke his own European record in the process. Despite his problems, Reynolds took the bronze.
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| | | First 4 from each Semi-Final advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Innocent Egbunike | NGR | 44.26s | | 2. Thomas Schonlebe | GDR | 44.60s | | 3. Roberto Hernandez | CUB | 44.83s | | 4. Roddie Haley | USA | 45.21s | | 5. Marcel Arnold |  SUI | 45.26s | | 6. Anton Skerritt |  CAN | 45.62s | | 7. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 45.67s | | 8. Aleksandr Kurochkin |  URS | 45.73s | | 9. Devon Morris |  JAM | 45.76s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Derek Redmond | GBR | 44.50s | | 2. Gabriel Tiacoh | CIV | 44.69s | | 3. David Kitur | KEN | 44.73s | | 4. Harry Reynolds | USA | 44.94s | | 5. Jens Carlowitz | GDR | 44.97s | | 6. Bert Cameron | JAM | 45.19s | | 7. Moses Ugbisie | NGR | 45.72s | | 8. Darren Clark |  AUS | 45.93s |
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| | | First 3 from each Quarter-Final and Best 4 times advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Quarter 1 | time | | 1. Derek Redmond | GBR | 45.03s | | 2. Roberto Hernandez | CUB | 45.33s | | 3. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 45.50s | | 4. Darren Clark | AUS | 45.58s | | 5. Hector Daley |  PAN | 46.05s | | 6. Antonio Sanchez |  ESP | 46.19s | | 7. John Anzrah | KEN | 46.45s | | -. Alemayehu Gudeta |  ETH | DNS |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | 1. Thomas Schonlebe | GDR | 44.81s | | 2. David Kitur | KEN | 44.94s | | 3. Roddie Haley | USA | 45.14s | | 4. Bert Cameron | JAM | 45.14s | | 5. Susumu Takano |  JPN | 45.81s | | 6. Mohamed Amer Al Malky |  OMN | 45.94s | | 7. Vladimir Prosin | URS | 45.94s | | 8. Lubos Balosak |  TCH | 46.76s |
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| Quarter 3 | time | | 1. Innocent Egbunike | NGR | 45.46s | | 2. Devon Morris | JAM | 45.49s | | 3. Harry Reynolds | USA | 45.49s | | 4. Anton Skerritt | CAN | 45.65s | | 5. Aleksandr Kurochkin | URS | 45.76s | | 6. Tito Sawe | KEN | 45.93s | | 7. Gerson A. Souza |  BRA | 46.46s | | 8. Ismail Macev |  YUG | 46.54s |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | 1. Jens Carlowitz | GDR | 45.27s | | 2. Moses Ugbisie | NGR | 45.30s | | 3. Gabriel Tiacoh | CIV | 45.33s | | 4. Marcel Arnold | SUI | 45.76s | | 5. Antonio McKay | USA | 45.85s | | 6. Elvis Forde |  BAR | 45.92s | | 7. Philip Brown | GBR | 46.49s | | 8. Roberto Ribaud |  ITA | 46.68s |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Harry Reynolds | USA | 45.51s | | 2. Susumu Takano | JPN | 45.68s | | 3. Mathias Schersing | GDR | 45.86s | | 4. Anton Skerritt | CAN | 46.15s | | 5. Mohamed Amer Al Malky | OMN | 46.23s | | 6. Bruce Phillip |  DMN | 46.56s | | 7. Felix Stevens | CUB | 46.89s | | -. Mohamed Hossain Milzer |  BAN | DNS |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. David Kitur | KEN | 45.39s | | 2. Innocent Egbunike | NGR | 45.84s | | 3. Elvis Forde | BAR | 45.99s | | 4. Hector Daley | PAN | 46.26s | | 5. Todd Bennett | GBR | 46.58s | | 6. Lyndon George |  STL | 47.25s | | 7. Ian Morris |  TRI | 48.06s | | 8. Bienvenu Yagbongo |  CAF | 50.14s |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Gabriel Tiacoh | CIV | 45.65s | | 2. Darren Clark | AUS | 45.70s | | 3. Aleksandr Kurochkin | URS | 45.74s | | 4. Marcel Arnold | SUI | 45.76s | | 5. Devon Morris | JAM | 45.83s | | 6. Ismail Macev | YUG | 46.30s | | 7. Gerson A. Souza | BRA | 46.39s | | -. Yaya Seyba |  MLI | DNS |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Moses Ugbisie | NGR | 45.55s | | 2. Thomas Schonlebe | GDR | 45.85s | | 3. Antonio McKay | USA | 46.30s | | 4. Roberto Ribaud | ITA | 46.37s | | 5. Yann Quentrec |  FRA | 46.78s | | 6. Mark Senior | JAM | 47.30s | | 7. Adram M'Kumi |  TAN | 47.39s | | 8. Dawda Jallow |  GAM | 48.40s |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Derek Redmond | GBR | 45.33s | | 2. Jens Carlowitz | GDR | 45.52s | | 3. Roddie Haley | USA | 45.73s | | 4. Tito Sawe | KEN | 45.93s | | 5. Lubos Balosak | TCH | 46.49s | | 6. Antonio Sanchez | ESP | 46.54s | | 7. Tamas Molnar |  HUN | 46.80s | | 8. Elieser Wattebosi |  INA | 47.32s |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Roberto Hernandez | CUB | 45.68s | | 2. John Anzrah | KEN | 45.91s | | 3. Bert Cameron | JAM | 45.94s | | 4. Philip Brown | GBR | 46.08s | | 5. Alemayehu Gudeta | ETH | 46.25s | | 6. Vladimir Prosin | URS | 46.26s | | 7. Jesus Malave |  VEN | 47.10s | | 8. Lenford O'Garro |  STV | 49.19s |
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