| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabrizio Mori |  ITA | 49.37 Q | |
| 2 | Ken Harnden |  ZIM | 49.65 Q | |
| 3 | Niklas Wallenlind |  SWE | 49.91 | |
| 4 | Stephan Striezel |  GER | 51.65 | |
| 5 | Juan Vallin |  MEX | 51.96 | |
| 6 | Ibou Faye |  SEN | 52.20 | |
| Salvador Vila |  ESP | DQ | ||
| Oleg Tverdokhleb |  UKR | DNF | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stéphane Diagana |  FRA | 49.16 Q | |
| 2 | Octavius Terry |  USA | 49.43 Q | |
| 3 | Carlos Silva |  POR | 49.53 | |
| 4 | Patrick Ottoz |  ITA | 49.65 | |
| 5 | Iñigo Monreal |  ESP | 50.30 | |
| 6 | Barnabas Kinyor |  KEN | 50.91 | |
| Chanon Kheanchan |  THA | DQ | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winthrop Graham |  JAM | 49.15 Q | |
| 2 | Erick Keter |  KEN | 49.27 Q | |
| 3 | Dusán Kovács |  HUN | 49.30 q | |
| 4 | Rohan Robinson |  AUS | 49.63 | |
| 5 | Yoshihiko Saito |  JPN | 49.91 | |
| 6 | Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily |  KSA | 50.54 | |
| 7 | Jean-Paul Bruwier |  BEL | 50.96 | |
| Gary Jennings |  GBR | DQ | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurent Ottoz |  ITA | 48.90 Q | |
| 2 | Sven Nylander |  SWE | 49.10 Q | |
| 3 | Miro Kocuvan |  SLO | 49.45 | |
| 4 | Jozef Kucej |  SVK | 50.00 | |
| 5 | Michael Kaul |  GER | 50.23 | |
| 6 | Vadim Zadoynov |  MDA | 50.24 | |
| 7 | Domingo Cordero |  PUR | 50.42 | |
| 8 | Judex Lefou |  MRI | 51.46 | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eronilde Nunes de Araújo |  BRA | 48.84 Q | |
| 2 | Shunji Karube |  JPN | 49.07 Q | |
| 3 | Hennadiy Horbenko |  UKR | 49.44 | |
| 4 | Ryan Hayden |  USA | 49.77 | |
| 5 | Simon Hollingsworth |  AUS | 50.66 | |
| 6 | Hamadou Mbaye |  SEN | 52.13 | |
| 7 | Eric Krings |  GUA | 53.78 | |
| Petteri Pulkkinen |  FIN | DQ | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kazuhiko Yamazaki |  JPN | 48.37 Q AR | |
| 2 | Samuel Matete |  ZAM | 48.45 Q | |
| 3 | Ruslan Mashchenko |  RUS | 48.47 q | |
| 4 | Niklas Eriksson |  SWE | 49.33 | |
| 5 | Pawel Januszewski |  POL | 49.43 | |
| 6 | Óscar Pitillas |  ESP | 51.28 | |
| 7 | Mohamed Amin |  PAK | 52.22 | |
| 8 | Ilir Xhani |  ALB | 52.61 | 
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Reaction Time | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derrick Adkins |  USA | 48.86 Q | |
| 2 | Jose Perez |  CUB | 50.32 Q | |
| 3 | Marc Dollendorf |  BEL | 50.47 | |
| 4 | Jimmy Coco |  FRA | 50.80 | |
| 5 | Olaf Hense |  GER | 52.35 | |
| Gideon Biwott |  KEN | DQ | ||
| Gary Cadogan |  GBR | DQ |