| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Abdi Bile |
SOM |
3:38.05 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Jens-Peter Herold |
GDR |
3:38.10 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Steve Crabb |
GBR |
3:38.11 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Peter Bourke |
AUS |
3:38.18 |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Marcus O'Sullivan |
IRL |
3:38.20 |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | Dieter Baumann |
FRG |
3:38.31 |
| 7 | 7 | 2 | Mogens Guldberg |
DEN |
3:38.67 |
| 8 | 8 | 2 | Joseph Chesire |
KEN |
3:38.71 |
| 9 | 9 | 2 | Teófilo Benito |
ESP |
3:38.90 |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | Kipkoech Cheruiyot |
KEN |
3:40.22 |
| 11 | 2 | 3 | José LuÃs Gonzalez |
ESP |
3:40.28 |
| 12 | 3 | 3 | Han Kulker |
NED |
3:40.32 |
| 13 | 10 | 2 | Zeki Öztürk |
TUR |
3:40.38 |
| 14 | 4 | 3 | Jim Spivey |
USA |
3:40.48 |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | Uwe Becker |
FRG |
3:40.63 |
| 16 | 6 | 3 | Leonid Masunov |
URS |
3:40.68 |
| 17 | 11 | 2 | Chuck Aragon |
USA |
3:40.82 |
| 18 | 7 | 3 | Mário Silva |
POR |
3:40.99 |
| 19 | 8 | 3 | Adrian Passey |
GBR |
3:41.44 |
| 20 | 1 | 1 | Omer Khalifa |
SUD |
3:41.93 |
| 21 | 9 | 3 | Markus Hacksteiner |
SUI |
3:42.04 |
| 22 | 2 | 1 | Steve Cram |
GBR |
3:42.05 |
| 23 | 3 | 1 | Peter Rono |
KEN |
3:42.26 |
| 24 | 12 | 2 | Getahun Ayana |
ETH |
3:42.29 |
| 25 | 4 | 1 | Steve Scott |
USA |
3:42.43 |
| 26 | 5 | 1 | Rémy Geoffroy |
FRA |
3:42.45 |
| 27 | 6 | 1 | Michael Hillardt |
AUS |
3:42.79 |
| 28 | 7 | 1 | Peter Wirz |
SUI |
3:43.00 |
| 29 | 8 | 1 | Ray Flynn |
IRL |
3:43.06 |
| 30 | 9 | 1 | Andrés Vera |
ESP |
3:43.24 |
| 31 | 10 | 1 | David Campbell |
CAN |
3:43.80 |
| 32 | 11 | 1 | Dieudonné Kwizera |
BDI |
3:44.36 |
| 33 | 10 | 3 | Pat Scammell |
AUS |
3:44.93 |
| 34 | 11 | 3 | Gerry O'Reilly |
IRL |
3:45.77 |
| 35 | 12 | 3 | Johnny Kroon |
SWE |
3:49.06 |
| 36 | 12 | 1 | Manuel Balmaceda |
CHI |
3:49.52 |
| 37 | 13 | 2 | Mohamed Abdullah Moubarak |
UAE |
3:51.04 |
| 3 | Moctar El |
MTN |
DNF | ||
| 1 | Ari Suhonen |
FIN |
DNS |