| POS | Rank | Heat | BIB | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 679 | Nicholas BETT |  KEN | 48.37 Q | 
| 2 | 1 | 5 | 870 | Denis Kudryavtsev |  RUS | 48.51 Q PB | 
| 3 | 1 | 3 | 1005 | Kerron Clement |  USA | 48.75 Q | 
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 705 | Bonface Mucheru |  KEN | 48.79 Q PB | 
| 5 | 1 | 4 | 956 | Yasmani COPELLO |  TUR | 48.89 Q NR | 
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 518 | Niall Flannery |  GBR | 48.90 Q SB | 
| 7 | 2 | 2 | 1063 | Michael Tinsley |  USA | 48.91 Q | 
| 8 | 2 | 5 | 794 | Patryk DOBEK |  POL | 48.94 Q | 
| 9 | 3 | 5 | 1012 | Johnny Dutch |  USA | 48.97 Q | 
| 10 | 3 | 2 | 822 | Javier Culson |  PUR | 49.02 Q | 
| 11 | 2 | 1 | 863 | Timofey Chalyy |  RUS | 49.05 Q SB | 
| 12 | 3 | 3 | 911 | Kariem HUSSEIN |  SUI | 49.08 Q | 
| 13 | 3 | 1 | 202 | Jeffery Gibson |  BAH | 49.09 Q | 
| 14 | 4 | 3 | 643 | Annsert Whyte |  JAM | 49.10 Q | 
| 15 | 4 | 2 | 860 | L.J. van Zyl |  RSA | 49.12 Q | 
| 16 | 4 | 1 | 754 | Kurt Couto |  MOZ | 49.15 Q SB | 
| 17 | 2 | 4 | 454 | Rasmus MÄGI |  EST | 49.18 Q | 
| 18 | 3 | 4 | 599 | Thomas BARR |  IRL | 49.20 Q | 
| 19 | 5 | 1 | 158 | Abdelmalik LAHOULOU |  ALG | 49.33 q | 
| 19 | 5 | 2 | 628 | Leford Green |  JAM | 49.33 q | 
| 21 | 4 | 5 | 664 | Yuki MATSUSHITA |  JPN | 49.34 Q | 
| 22 | 5 | 5 | 693 | Aron Kipchumba KOECH |  KEN | 49.38 q PB | 
| 22 | 6 | 5 | 222 | Michaël Bultheel |  BEL | 49.38 q | 
| 22 | 5 | 3 | 773 | Miles Ukaoma |  NGR | 49.38 | 
| 25 | 6 | 1 | 622 | Roxroy Cato |  JAM | 49.47 | 
| 26 | 4 | 4 | 327 | Wen Cheng |  CHN | 49.56 Q PB | 
| 26 | 5 | 4 | 881 | Ivan Shablyuyev |  RUS | 49.56 | 
| 28 | 7 | 1 | 778 | Michael Cochrane |  NZL | 49.58 NR | 
| 28 | 6 | 2 | 662 | Yuta Konishi |  JPN | 49.58 SB | 
| 30 | 8 | 1 | 661 | Takayuki KISHIMOTO |  JPN | 49.78 | 
| 31 | 7 | 2 | 939 | Jehue Gordon |  TTO | 49.91 | 
| 32 | 9 | 1 | 821 | Eric Alejandro |  PUR | 49.94 | 
| 33 | 6 | 4 | 788 | Eric CRAY |  PHI | 50.04 | 
| 34 | 7 | 4 | 1029 | Bershawn Jackson |  USA | 50.14 | 
| 35 | 7 | 5 | 160 | Miloud Rahmani |  ALG | 50.21 | 
| 36 | 8 | 5 | 448 | Jaak-Heinrich Jagor |  EST | 50.29 | 
| 37 | 8 | 4 | 757 | Johannes Hardus Maritz |  NAM | 51.10 | 
| 38 | 6 | 3 | 154 | Saber Boukemouche |  ALG | 51.54 | 
| 39 | 9 | 5 | 893 | Amadou Ndiaye |  SEN | 52.40 | 
| 40 | 8 | 2 | 361 | Maoulida Daroueche |  COM | 53.06 | 
| 3 | 953 | Mohamed Sghaier |  TUN | DQ R163.3(a) | ||
| 3 | 842 | Cornel Fredericks |  RSA | DNS | ||
| 4 | 530 | Jack Green |  GBR | DNS | ||
| 2 | 990 | Andrés Silva |  URU | DQ |