| Final | team | time | gap | L | Y | | 1. Clarence Crabbe |  United States | 4:48.4 | OR | - | 24 | | 2. Jean Taris |  France | 4:48.5 | +0.1s | - | 23 | | 3. Tsutomu Oyokota |  Japan | 4:52.3 | +3.9s | - | 19 | | 4. Takashi Yokoyama | Japan | 4:52.5 | +4.1s | - | 18 | | 5. Noboru Sugimoto | Japan | 4:56.1 | +7.7s | - | 18 | | 6. Andrew Charlton |  Australia | 4:58.6 | +10.2s | - | 24 |
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Semifinals - Tuesday, 9th August | | First 3 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Takashi Yokoyama | Japan | 4:51.4 | OR | - | 18 | 1. | | 2. Jean Taris | France | 4:52.3 | +0.9s | - | 23 | 2. | | 3. Tsutomu Oyokota | Japan | 4:52.8 | +1.4s | - | 19 | 4. | | 4. James Gilhula | United States | 4:55.4 | +4.0s | - | 20 | 5. | | 4. Noel Ryan | Australia | 4:59.7 | +8.3s | - | 20 | 7. | | 6. Paolo Costoli |  Italy | 5:06.0 | +14.6s | - | 22 | 9. |
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| Semi 2 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Clarence Crabbe | United States | 4:52.7 | +1.3s | - | 24 | 3. | | 2. Noboru Sugimoto | Japan | 4:59.0 | +7.6s | - | 18 | 6. | | 3. Andrew Charlton | Australia | 5:02.1 | +10.7s | - | 24 | 8. | | 4. Giuseppe Perentin | Italy | 5:10.5 | +19.1s | - | 26 | 10. | | 5. Walter Spence |  Canada | 5:15.6 | +24.2s | - | 31 | 11. |
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Heats - Monday, 8th August | | First 2 from each Heat and Best 3rd time advanced to Semifinals. |
| Heat 1 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Takashi Yokoyama | Japan | 4:53.2 | OR | 4 | 18 | 1. | | 2. James Gilhula | United States | 4:53.3 | +0.1s | 3 | 20 | 2. | | 3. George Burrows | Canada | 5:28.9 | +35.7s | 6 | | 15. | | -. Fernando De Macedo |  Brazil | DNS | | 5 | | | | -. Andras Wanie |  Hungary | DNS | | 1 | 21 | | | -. Alberto Zorrilla |  Argentina | DNS | | 2 | 26 | |
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| Heat 2 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Clarence Crabbe | United States | 4:59.8 | +6.6s | 5 | 24 | 4. | | 2. Noboru Sugimoto | Japan | 5:00.2 | +7.0s | 4 | 18 | 6. | | 3. Norman Wainwright |  Great Britain | 5:12.0 | +18.8s | 2 | 18 | 12. | | 4. Ignacio Gutierrez Escoto |  Mexico | 5:29.1 | +35.9s | 3 | | 16. | | -. Oscar Da Silva Callares | Brazil | DNS | | 6 | | | | -. Carlos Kennedy | Argentina | DNS | | 1 | 21 | |
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| Heat 3 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Andrew Charlton | Australia | 4:59.8 | +6.6s | 2 | 24 | 4. | | 2. Paolo Costoli | Italy | 5:06.7 | +13.5s | 3 | 22 | 9. | | 3. Walter Spence | Canada | 5:10.0 | +16.8s | 5 | 31 | 11. | | 4. Gyula Kanassi | Hungary | 5:40.8 | +47.6s | 4 | 18 | 17. | | 5. Manuel Villegas Bouchez | Mexico | 5:54.2 | +1:01.0 | 1 | | 18. |
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| Heat 4 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Jean Taris | France | 4:53.3 | +0.1s | 5 | 23 | 2. | | 2. Giuseppe Perentin | Italy | 5:09.1 | +15.9s | 2 | 26 | 10. | | 3. Bob Leivers | Great Britain | 5:14.6 | +21.4s | 1 | 17 | 13. | | 4. Nalin Malik |  India | 5:59.0 | +1:05.8 | 3 | | 19. | | -. Herbert Barthels | United States | DNS | | 4 | 21 | |
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| Heat 5 | team | time | gap | L | Y | Rk | | 1. Noel Ryan | Australia | 5:01.9 | +8.7s | 1 | 20 | 7. | | 2. Tsutomu Oyokota | Japan | 5:06.3 | +13.1s | 5 | 19 | 8. | | 3. George Larson | Canada | 5:20.1 | +26.9s | 3 | 20 | 14. | | -. Mario De Lorenzo | Brazil | DNS | | 4 | | | | -. Laszlo Szabados | Hungary | DNS | | 2 | 21 | |
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