# 1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 1500 metres

These are the official results of the men's 1500 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 52 participating athletes, with four qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Sunday 14 August 1983. The winning margin was 0.28 seconds.

## Records

Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | Steve Ovett (GBR) | 3:31.36 | Koblenz, West Germany | August 27, 1980 |
| Championship Record | New event | New event | New event | New event |

## Results
### Qualifying heats

The qualifying heats took place on 12 August, with the 52 athletes involved being split into 4 heats. The first 4 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 8 fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pierre Délèze | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:42.28 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Sydney Maree | United States (USA) | 3:43.13 | Q |
| 3 | Uwe Becker | West Germany (FRG) | 3:43.18 | Q |
| 4 | Ray Flynn | Ireland (IRL) | 3:43.27 | Q |
| 5 | João Campos | Portugal (POR) | 3:43.44 | |
| 6 | Kipkoech Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:43.58 | |
| 7 | Nikolay Kirov | Soviet Union (URS) | 3:43.77 | |
| 8 | Jan Persson | Sweden (SWE) | 3:43.83 | |
| 9 | Dave Reid | Canada (CAN) | 3:45.08 | |
| 10 | Mohamed Neji Henkiri | Tunisia (TUN) | 3:45.90 | |
| 11 | Jama Aden | Somalia (SOM) | 3:46.87 | |
| 12 | Tisbite Rakotoarisoa | Madagascar (MAD) | 3:52.91 | |
| 13 | Luis Munguía | Nicaragua (NCA) | 4:02.06 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Cram | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:40.17 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Saïd Aouita | Morocco (MAR) | 3:40.39 | Q |
| 3 | Frank O'Mara | Ireland (IRL) | 3:40.53 | Q |
| 4 | John Walker | New Zealand (NZL) | 3:40.67 | Q |
| 5 | Piotr Kurek | Poland (POL) | 3:40.96 | q |
| 6 | Niels Kim Hjorth | Denmark (DEN) | 3:41.29 | q |
| 7 | Peter Wirz | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:41.69 | |
| 8 | Philippe Dien | France (FRA) | 3:43.15 | |
| 9 | Spyros Spyrou | Cyprus (CYP) | 3:43.94 | |
| 10 | Paul Rugut | Kenya (KEN) | 3:46.00 | |
| 11 | Jimmy Igohe | Tanzania (TAN) | 3:48.58 | |
| 12 | Charlie Oliver | Solomon Islands (SOL) | 4:18.24 | |
| | Mehdi Aidet | Algeria (ALG) | | DNS |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andreas Busse | East Germany (GDR) | 3:38.65 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:39.00 | Q |
| 3 | Dragan Zdravković | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 3:39.18 | Q |
| 4 | Jan Kubista | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 3:39.20 | Q |
| 5 | Tom Byers | United States (USA) | 3:39.41 | q |
| 6 | Eddy Stevens | Belgium (BEL) | 3:39.77 | q |
| 7 | Stefano Mei | Italy (ITA) | 3:39.93 | q |
| 8 | José Luis González | Spain (ESP) | 3:41.29 | q |
| 9 | Pascal Thiebaut | France (FRA) | 3:41.51 | |
| 10 | Amar Brahmia | Algeria (ALG) | 3:42.75 | |
| 11 | Omer Khalifa | Sudan (SUD) | 3:48.23 | |
| 12 | John Chappory | Gibraltar (GIB) | 3:56.92 | |
| 13 | Jean-Marie Rudasinqwa | Rwanda (RWA) | 3:57.49 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Scott | United States (USA) | 3:37.87 | Q, CR |
| 2 | José Manuel Abascal | Spain (ESP) | 3:38.06 | Q |
| 3 | Claudio Patrignani | Italy (ITA) | 3:38.35 | Q |
| 4 | Graham Williamson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:38.99 | Q |
| 5 | Abderrahmane Morceli | Algeria (ALG) | 3:39.77 | q |
| 6 | Robert Nemeth | Austria (AUT) | 3:39.93 | q |
| 7 | Mike Boit | Kenya (KEN) | 3:40.06 | q |
| 8 | Antti Loikkanen | Finland (FIN) | 3:44.47 | |
| 9 | Sermet Timurlenk | Turkey (TUR) | 3:46.74 | |
| 10 | Mohammed Darwish | Iraq (IRQ) | 3:50.04 | |
| 11 | Ibrahim Malallah | Qatar (QAT) | 3:52.05 | |
| 12 | Masini Situ-Kubanza | Zaire (ZAI) | 4:06.44 | |
| 13 | Sekou Camara | Guinea (GUI) | 4:08.46 | |

### Semi-finals

The semifinals took place on 13 August, with the 25 athletes involved being split into 2 heats. The first 4 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 4 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Scott | United States (USA) | 3:36.43 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Saïd Aouita | Morocco (MAR) | 3:36.43 | Q |
| 3 | Jan Kubista | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 3:37.12 | Q |
| 4 | Uwe Becker | West Germany (FRG) | 3:37.27 | Q |
| 5 | Andreas Busse | East Germany (GDR) | 3:37.54 | q |
| 6 | José Luis González | Spain (ESP) | 3:38.77 | |
| 7 | Niels Kim Hjorth | Denmark (DEN) | 3:39.75 | |
| 8 | Abderrahmane Morceli | Algeria (ALG) | 3:39.88 | |
| 9 | Stefano Mei | Italy (ITA) | 3:41.78 | |
| 10 | Graham Williamson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:45.84 | |
| 11 | Frank O'Mara | Ireland (IRL) | 3:47.10 | |
| | Robert Nemeth | Austria (AUT) | | DNF |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Cram | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:35.77 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:36.26 | Q |
| 3 | José Manuel Abascal | Spain (ESP) | 3:36.35 | Q |
| 4 | Pierre Délèze | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:36.37 | Q |
| 5 | John Walker | New Zealand (NZL) | 3:36.52 | q |
| 6 | Dragan Zdravković | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 3:37.31 | q |
| 7 | Mike Boit | Kenya (KEN) | 3:37.75 | q |
| 8 | Claudio Patrignani | Italy (ITA) | 3:38.36 | |
| 9 | Sydney Maree | United States (USA) | 3:38.65 | |
| 10 | Piotr Kurek | Poland (POL) | 3:39.54 | |
| 11 | Ray Flynn | Ireland (IRL) | 3:40.26 | |
| 12 | Eddy Stevens | Belgium (BEL) | 3:42.63 | |
| 13 | Tom Byers | United States (USA) | 3:43.97 | |

### Final

The final took place on August 14.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Steve Cram | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:41.59 |
| | Steve Scott | United States (USA) | 3:41.87 |
| | Saïd Aouita | Morocco (MAR) | 3:42.02 |
| 4 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:42.34 |
| 5 | José Manuel Abascal | Spain (ESP) | 3:42.47 |
| 6 | Pierre Délèze | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:43.69 |
| 7 | Andreas Busse | East Germany (GDR) | 3:43.72 |
| 8 | Dragan Zdravković | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 3:43.75 |
| 9 | John Walker | New Zealand (NZL) | 3:44.24 |
| 10 | Jan Kubista | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 3:44.30 |
| 11 | Uwe Becker | West Germany (FRG) | 3:45.09 |
| 12 | Mike Boit | Kenya (KEN) | 3:46.46 |