| 1 | Roger Milhau | FRA | 1:48,6 | Q |
| 2 | Marian Gesicki | POL | 1:48,9 | Q |
| 3 | Arno Körmeling | NED | 1:49,2 | |
| 4 | Pavel Litovchenko | URS | 1:50,9 | |
| 5 | Jon Didriksson | SWE | 1:53,7 |
| 1 | Gabriele Ferrero | ITA | 1:56,0 | Q |
| 2 | Markku Taskinen | FIN | 1:56,1 | Q |
| 3 | Günther Hasler | LIE | 1:56,3 | |
| 4 | Milovan Savic | YUG | 1:56,4 |
| 1 | Olaf Beyer | GDR | 1:51,0 | Q |
| 2 | Rolf Gysin | SUI | 1:51,2 | Q |
| 3 | Sermet Timurlenk | TUR | 1:51,6 | |
| 4 | Pawel Szweda | POL | 1:52,1 |