| Final | time | L | | 1. Sergei Rusin |  URS | 3:54.83 | 6 | | 2. Frank Wennmann |  FRG | 3:55.47 | 1 | | 3. Frank Pfutze |  GDR | 3:56.48 | 2 | | 4. Rainer Stronbach | GDR | 3:57.42 | 4 | | 5. Borut Petric |  YUG | 3:58.23 | 5 | | 6. Gary Andersson |  SWE | 3:58.30 | 3 | | 7. Peter Knust | FRG | 4:00.37 | 1 | | 8. Arne Borstroem |  NOR | 4:00.97 | 7 |
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Heats - Thursday, 18th August |
| Heat 1 | time | Rk. | | 1. Rainer Stronbach | GDR | 3:58.23 | 1. | | 2. Arne Borstroem | NOR | 3:59.56 | 6. | | 3. Paolo Revelli |  ITA | 4:03.56 | 13. | | 4. Dariusz Broda |  POL | 4:07.41 | 19. | | 5. Henk Elzerman |  NED | 4:09.14 | 21. | | 6. Giorgio Quadri | ITA | 4:11.65 | 24. | | 7. Rui Abreu |  POR | 4:12.34 | 25. |
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| Heat 2 | time | Rk. | | 1. Frank Pfutze | GDR | 3:59.29 | 5. | | 2. Peter Knust | FRG | 4:00.08 | 7. | | 3. Daniel Masjek |  TCH | 4:00.23 | 9. | | 4. Zoltan Waldar |  HUN | 4:05.18 | 16. | | 5. Istvan Koszka | HUN | 4:06.37 | 18. | | 6. Paulo Frischknecht | POR | 4:11.10 | 23. | | 7. Bulent Kirbas |  TUR | 4:42.64 | 27. |
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| Heat 3 | time | Rk. | | 1. Borut Petric | YUG | 3:58.85 | 2. | | 2. Gary Andersson | SWE | 3:59.10 | 3. | | 3. Sergei Rusin | URS | 3:59.15 | 4. | | 4. Paul Sparkes |  GBR | 4:03.78 | 14. | | 5. Per Holmertz | SWE | 4:06.32 | 17. | | 6. Gerhard Waldmann |  SUI | 4:10.77 | 22. | | 7. Murat Oezuak | TUR | 4:27.06 | 26. |
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| Heat 4 | time | Rk. | | 1. Frank Wennmann | FRG | 4:00.12 | 8. | | 2. Gordon Downie | GBR | 4:00.32 | 10. | | 3. Rene van der Kuil | NED | 4:02.29 | 11. | | 4. Vladimir Raskatov |  RUS | 4:02.88 | 12. | | 5. Pierre Andraca |  FRA | 4:05.11 | 15. | | 6. Krasimir Tumanov |  BUL | 4:07.86 | 20. |
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