| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andre Phillips |  USA | 50.44 | |
| 2 | Rik Tommelein |  BEL | 50.99 | |
| 3 | Gary Oakes |  GBR | 51.23 | |
| 4 | Ian Newhouse |  CAN | 51.45 | |
| 5 | Meshak Munyoro |  KEN | 53.25 | |
| 6 | Paiwa Bogela |  PNG | 54.68 | |
| Aleksandr Yatsevich |  URS | DNF | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandr Kharlov |  URS | 50.12 | |
| 2 | Sven Nylander |  SWE | 50.23 | |
| 3 | José Alonso |  ESP | 50.53 | |
| 4 | Vladislav Pecen |  TCH | 50.86 | |
| 5 | István Takács |  HUN | 50.97 | |
| 6 | Peter Rwamuhanda |  UGA | 50.99 | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Lee |  USA | 50.15 | |
| 2 | Toma Tomov |  BUL | 50.39 | |
| 3 | Karl Smith |  JAM | 50.64 | |
| 4 | Thomas Futterknecht |  AUT | 50.68 | |
| 5 | Antonio Diaz Ferreira |  BRA | 50.76 | |
| 6 | Stephen Sole |  GBR | 51.80 | |
| 7 | Ahmed Abdelhalim Ghanem |  EGY | 52.32 | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edwin Moses |  USA | 49.54 | |
| 2 | Daniel Ogidi |  NGR | 50.44 | |
| 3 | Amadou Dia Ba |  SEN | 50.59 | |
| 4 | Krasimir Demirev |  BUL | 50.62 | |
| 5 | Greg Rolle |  BAH | 50.92 | |
| 6 | Rok Kopitar |  YUG | 52.34 | |
| 7 | Carlos Azulay |  ESP | DQ* | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harald Schmid |  FRG | 49.99 | |
| 2 | Ryszard Szparak |  POL | 50.09 | |
| 3 | Franz Meier |  SUI | 50.09 | |
| 4 | Ahmed Hamada |  BRN | 50.53 | |
| 5 | Petter Hesselberg |  NOR | 51.67 | |
| 6 | Georgios Vamvakas |  GRE | 51.92 | |
| 7 | David Charlton |  BAH | 52.02 |