| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edwin Moses |  USA | 48.11 | |
| 2 | Andre Phillips |  USA | 48.99 | |
| 3 | Amadou Dia Ba |  SEN | 49.18 | |
| 4 | Aleksandr Kharlov |  URS | 49.75 | |
| 5 | Ahmed Hamada |  BRN | 50.04 | |
| 6 | Franz Meier |  SUI | 50.31 | |
| 7 | Rik Tommelein |  BEL | 50.54 | |
| Toma Tomov |  BUL | DNF | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harald Schmid |  FRG | 48.57 | |
| 2 | David Lee |  USA | 48.63 | |
| 3 | Ryszard Szparak |  POL | 49.17 | |
| 4 | Sven Nylander |  SWE | 49.18 | |
| 5 | Daniel Ogidi |  NGR | 49.51 | |
| 6 | José Alonso |  ESP | 49.91 | |
| 7 | Karl Smith |  JAM | 49.99 | |
| 8 | Krasimir Demirev |  BUL | 50.91 |