| Date | 28 July 1976 | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Bassin olympique, Île Notre Dame, Montréal, Québec | |
| Format | Top 3 in each heat advanced to the semi-finals. | |
| Time | 17:00 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | József Deme / János Rátkai |  HUN | 1:42.51 | 50.01 (1) | 52.50 (1) | ||
| 2 | 1 | Bruno Bicocchi / Antoine Cipriani |  FRA | 1:44.98 | 50.36 (2) | 54.62 (2) | ||
| 3 | 2 | Rudolf Blaß / Erich Pasch |  FRG | 1:46.12 | 50.69 (3) | 55.43 (3) | ||
| 4 | 3 | Declan Burns / Brendan O'Connell |  IRL | 1:47.56 | 51.60 (4) | 55.96 (4) |
| Time | 17:10 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Anders Andersson / Lars Andersson |  SWE | 1:43.60 | 49.70 (1) | 53.90 (3) | ||
| 2 | 1 | Paolo Lepori / Pier Duilio Puccetti |  ITA | 1:45.30 | 51.80 (2) | 53.50 (1) | ||
| 3 | 3 | Juan Bostelmann / Hermelindo Soto |  MEX | 1:45.82 | 52.30 (3) | 53.52 (2) |
| Time | 17:20 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Pair | NOC | Time | 250 m | 250-500 m | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Denis Barré / Steve King |  CAN | 1:47.21 | 48.64 (1) | 58.57 (4) | ||
| 2 | 3 | Ryszard Oborski / Grzegorz Śledziewski |  POL | 1:47.30 | 48.91 (2) | 58.39 (2) | ||
| 3 | 2 | Rod Gavin / John Leonard |  NZL | 1:47.45 | 50.43 (3) | 57.02 (1) | ||
| 4 | 4 | Michael Johnson / Bill Leach |  USA | 1:49.95 | 51.54 (4) | 58.41 (3) | ||
| 5 | 5 | Ng Hin Wan / Hui Cheong |  HKG | 2:06.42 | 59.63 (5) | 1:06.79 (5) |
