| Final | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Gunnar Larsson | SWE | 4:31.98 | 1. | | 2. Tim McKee | USA | 4:31.98 | 6. | | 3. András Hargitay | HUN | 4:32.70 | 2. | | 4. Steve Furniss | USA | 4:35.44 | 5. | | 5. Gary Hall | USA | 4:37.38 | 4. | | 6. Bengt Gingsjö | SWE | 4:37.96 | 3. | | 7. Graham Windeatt | AUS | 4:40.39 | 7. | | 8. Wolfram Sperling | GDR | 4:40.66 | 8. |
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| Heat 1 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. András Hargitay | HUN | 4:37.51 | 2. | | 2. Christian Lietzmann | GDR | 4:44.47 | 10. | | 3. Roger van Hamburg | NED | 4:50.70 | 19. | | 4. José Luis Prado | MEX | 4:54.49 | 24. | | 5. Barry Prime | GBR | 4:57.77 | 27. | | 6. Jairulla Jaitulla | PHI | 5:05.48 | 31. |
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| Heat 2 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Gunnar Larsson | SWE | 4:34.99 | 1. | | 2. John McConnochie | NZL | 4:49.89 | 17. | | 3. Valentin Partyka | URS | 4:50.03 | 18. | | 4. David Brumwell | CAN | 4:52.41 | 21. | | 5. Jiro Sasaki | JPN | 4:53.65 | 23. | | 6. Antônio Azevedo | BRA | 4:57.27 | 26. | | 7. Hsu Tung-Hsiung | TPE | 5:09.56 | 32. |
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| Heat 3 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Steve Furniss | USA | 4:39.33 | 5. | | 2. Ricardo Marmolejo | MEX | 4:45.20 | 11. | | 3. Bertram Türpe | GDR | 4:46.55 | 13. | | 4. Neil Martin | AUS | 4:49.85 | 16. | | 5. Csaba Sós | HUN | 4:52.89 | 22. | | 6. Sverre Kile | NOR | 4:59.72 | 29. | | 7. Gudmunður Gíslason | ISL | 5:03.54 | 30. |
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| Heat 4 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Tim McKee | USA | 4:40.78 | 6. | | 2. Graham Windeatt | AUS | 4:42.16 | 7. | | 3. Mikhail Sukharev | URS | 4:43.13 | 9. | | 4. Hans-Joachim Geisler | FRG | 4:48.57 | 15. | | 5. Mauro Calligaris | ITA | 4:52.02 | 20. | | 6. Mike Holthaus | FRG | 4:58.19 | 28. |
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| Heat 5 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Bengt Gingsjö | SWE | 4:38.05 | 3. | | 2. Gary Hall | USA | 4:38.95 | 4. | | 3. Wolfram Sperling | GDR | 4:42.75 | 8. | | 4. Jorge Delgado, Jr. | ECU | 4:45.25 | 12. | | 5. Bruce Featherston | AUS | 4:47.33 | 14. | | 6. Zbigniew Pacelt | POL | 4:55.38 | 25. |
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