Heat 1 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk. | 1. Hiroshi Negami | Japan | 4:52.6 | +7.1s | 1 | 24 | 3. | 2. John Macionis | United States | 4:57.1 | +11.6s | 3 | 20 | 8. | 3. Heinz Arendt | Germany | 4:57.2 | +11.7s | 4 | 19 | 9. | 4. Arpad Lengyel | Hungary | 4:57.7 | +12.2s | 7 | 20 | 11. | 5. Edmund Pader | Austria | 5:16.9 | +31.4s | 6 | _ | 21. | 6. Robert Hooper | Canada | 5:17.2 | +31.7s | 5 | 17 | 22. | -. Roger Zirilli | Switzerland | DNS | | 2 | 25 | -. |
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Heat 2 | | time | gap | L | Y | Rk. | 1. Robert Leivers | Great Britain | 4:57.2 | +11.7s | 1 | 21 | 9. | 2. Otto Przywara | Germany | 5:11.7 | +26.2s | 5 | 21 | 18. | 3. Aage Even Hellstrom | Denmark | 5:18.2 | +32.7s | 3 | 15 | 24. | 4. Joao Havelange | Brazil | 5:31.5 | +46.0s | 2 | 20 | 30. | -. Gunther Zobernig | Austria | DNS | | 4 | 20 | -. | -. Charlie Chan | China | DNS | | 6 | 25 | -. | -. Dudley Spurling | Bermuda | DNS | | 7 | 22 | -. |
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