Heats

The winner of each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Aleksandr Yevgenyev	Soviet Union	21.23	Q
2	5	Nikolay Razgonov	Soviet Union	21.26	Q
3	1	Linford Christie	Great Britain	21.42	q
4	1	Daniel Sangouma	France	21.42	q
5	3	Norbert Dobeleit	West Germany	21.78	Q
5	5	Juha Pyy	Finland	21.78	q
7	2	Ronald Desruelles	Belgium	21.83	Q
8	4	Juan Prado	Spain	21.87	Q
9	2	Jacek Licznerski	Poland	21.90
9	5	Krzysztof Zwoliński	Poland	21.90
11	4	Roland Jokl	Austria	21.92
12	4	Anri Grigorov	Bulgaria	22.01
13	1	Luís Cunha	Portugal	22.02
14	3	Carlos Turró	Spain	22.05
15	3	Lars Pedersen	Denmark	22.08
16	4	Marco De Pasquale	Italy	22.42
16	2	Angelos Angelidis	Cyprus	22.51
17	3	Yann Quentrec	France	23.09	PB
	2	Ade Mafe	Great Britain	DNS	[2]
	5	Andreas Berger	Austria	DNS	[2]

Semifinals

First 2 from each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Aleksandr Yevgenyev	Soviet Union	21.17	Q
2	2	Nikolay Razgonov	Soviet Union	21.29	Q
3	2	Linford Christie	Great Britain	21.33	Q
4	1	Daniel Sangouma	France	21.47	Q
5	1	Norbert Dobeleit	West Germany	21.60
6	2	Ronald Desruelles	Belgium	22.04
7	2	Juha Pyy	Finland	22.57
8	1	Juan Prado	Spain	22.70

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Linford Christie	Great Britain	21.10
	3	Aleksandr Yevgenyev	Soviet Union	21.18
	2	Nikolay Razgonov	Soviet Union	21.48
4	1	Daniel Sangouma	France	21.78