| Date | 30 July 1976 | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Bassin olympique, Île Notre Dame, Montréal, Québec | |
| Format | Top 3 in each heat advanced to the final. | |
| Time | 11:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Vladimir Romanovsky / Sergey Nagorny |  URS | 1:38.65 | 48.08 (1) | 50.57 (2) | ||
| 2 | 5 | József Deme / János Rátkai |  HUN | 1:38.92 | 48.91 (4) | 50.01 (1) | ||
| 3 | 4 | Jean-Pierre Burny / Paul Hoekstra |  BEL | 1:39.58 | 48.49 (2) | 51.09 (3) | ||
| 4 | 2 | Lazar Hristov / Borislav Borisov |  BUL | 1:42.21 | 48.70 (3) | 53.51 (4) | ||
| 5 | 1 | Paolo Lepori / Pier Duilio Puccetti |  ITA | 1:43.51 | 49.59 (5) | 53.92 (5) | ||
| 6 | 3 | Rod Gavin / John Leonard |  NZL | 1:45.61 | 50.07 (6) | 55.54 (6) |
| Time | 11:40 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Bernd Olbricht / Joachim Mattern |  GDR | 1:39.06 | 48.51 (2) | 50.55 (1) | ||
| 2 | 3 | Anders Andersson / Lars Andersson |  SWE | 1:39.86 | 48.71 (3) | 51.15 (3) | ||
| 3 | 6 | Hannu Kojo / Kari Markkanen |  FIN | 1:40.06 | 49.25 (5) | 50.81 (2) | ||
| 4 | 1 | Ryszard Oborski / Grzegorz Śledziewski |  POL | 1:41.65 | 48.97 (4) | 52.68 (4) | ||
| 5 | 4 | Rudolf Blaß / Erich Pasch |  FRG | 1:42.64 | 48.23 (1) | 54.41 (6) | ||
| 6 | 5 | Arend Bloem / Lo Jacobs |  NED | 1:43.63 | 49.99 (6) | 53.64 (5) |
| Time | 11:50 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | José Seguín / Guillermo del Riego |  ESP | 1:38.64 | 47.61 (2) | 51.03 (1) | ||
| 2 | 3 | John Southwood / John Sumegi |  AUS | 1:40.01 | 47.85 (3) | 52.16 (2) | ||
| 3 | 4 | Larion Serghei / Policarp Malîhin |  ROU | 1:40.38 | 47.33 (1) | 53.05 (4) | ||
| 4 | 2 | Denis Barré / Steve King |  CAN | 1:41.47 | 48.08 (4) | 53.39 (5) | ||
| 5 | 6 | Bruno Bicocchi / Antoine Cipriani |  FRA | 1:43.36 | 48.82 (5) | 54.54 (6) | ||
| 6 | 5 | Juan Bostelmann / Hermelindo Soto |  MEX | 1:44.65 | 51.66 (6) | 52.99 (3) |
