Semi 1 | | time | | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. Mike Troy | United States | 2:18.0 | | | 4 | 19 | 1. | 2. Neville Hayes | Australia | 2:21.6 | | +3.6s | 5 | 16 | 6. | 3. Haruo Yoshimuta | Japan | 2:21.7 | | +3.7s | 6 | 20 | 7. | 4. Kevin Berry | Australia | 2:23.1 | | +5.1s | 3 | 15 | 8. | 5. Eulalio Rios | Mexico | 2:24.2 | | +6.2s | 2 | 25 | 10. | 6. Grigori Kiselev | Soviet Union | 2:24.8 | | +6.8s | 1 | 23 | 11. | 7. Ian Blyth | Great Britain | 2:26.8 | | +8.8s | 8 | 17 | 12. | 7. Luis Nicolao | Argentina | 2:26.8 | | +8.8s | 7 | 16 | 12. |
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Semi 2 | | time | | gap | L | Y | Rk | 1. David Gillanders | United States | 2:18.7 | | +0.7s | 4 | 21 | 2. | 2. Valentin Kuzmin | Soviet Union | 2:19.1 | | +1.1s | 3 | 19 | 3. | 3. Fritz Dennerlein | Italy | 2:20.5 | | +2.5s | 5 | 24 | 4. | 4. Kenzo Izutsu | Japan | 2:21.5 | | +3.5s | 6 | 19 | 5. | 5. Pavel Pazdirek | Czechoslovakia | 2:23.5 | | +5.5s | 7 | 22 | 9. | 6. Jurgen Bachmann | UT Germany | 2:28.4 | | +10.4s | 8 | 18 | 14. | 7. Alexandru Popescu | Romania | 2:28.5 | | +10.5s | 1 | 24 | 15. | -. Ilkka Suvanto | Finland | DNF | | | 2 | 17 | -. |
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