| Date | 1 September 1972 — 16:30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München | |
| Format | Top three in each heat advanced to the final. | |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time (Automatic) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 207 | Tapio Kantanen |  FIN | 8:24.8 | ||
| 2 | 576 | Kip Keino |  KEN | 8:27.6 | ||
| 3 | 559 | Takaharu Koyama |  JPN | 8:29.8 | ||
| 4 | 776 | Gheorghe Cefan |  ROU | 8:33.8 | ||
| 5 | 290 | Andy Holden |  GBR | 8:33.8 | ||
| 6 | 822 | Toni Feldmann |  SUI | 8:35.8 | ||
| 7 | 1009 | Steve Savage |  USA | 8:39.0 | ||
| 8 | 235 | Gérard Buchheit |  FRA | 8:41.2 | ||
| 9 | 858 | Filbert Bayi |  TAN | 8:41.4 | ||
| 10 | 912 | Vitus Ashaba |  UGA | 8:45.0 | ||
| 11 | 750 | Tadeusz Zieliński |  POL | 8:49.8 | ||
| 12 | 156 | Wigmar Pedersen |  DEN | 9:03.0 |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time (Automatic) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 574 | Ben Jipcho | KEN | 8:31.6 | ||
| 2 | 200 | Mikko Ala-Leppilampi | FIN | 8:31.8 | ||
| 3 | 76 | Mihail Zhelev |  BUL | 8:35.8 | ||
| 4 | 381 | Willi Maier |  FRG | 8:37.6 | ||
| 5 | 565 | Akira Takeuchi | JPN | 8:40.4 | ||
| 6 | 958 | Sergey Skripka |  URS | 8:41.4 | ||
| 7 | 686 | Jan Voje |  NOR | 8:42.0 | ||
| 8 | 827 | Hans Menet | SUI | 8:45.4 | ||
| 9 | 484 | Eddie Leddy |  IRL | 8:47.4 | ||
| 10 | 730 | Kazimierz Maranda | POL | 8:50.4 | ||
| 11 | 122 | Esau Adenji |  CMR | 9:34.4 | ||
| 33 | Kerry O'Brien |  AUS | – |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time (Automatic) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 213 | Pekka Päivärinta | FIN | 8:28.95 | ||
| 2 | 930 | Romualdas Bitė | URS | 8:30.2 | ||
| 3 | 271 | Jean-Paul Villain | FRA | 8:30.4 | ||
| 4 | 874 | Josef Horčic |  TCH | 8:30.6 | ||
| 5 | 846 | Anders Gärderud |  SWE | 8:30.8 | ||
| 6 | 405 | Willi Wagner | FRG | 8:34.0 | ||
| 7 | 64 | Paul Thys |  BEL | 8:35.0 | ||
| 8 | 275 | John Bicourt | GBR | 8:38.8 | ||
| 9 | 974 | Doug Brown | USA | 8:41.2 | ||
| 10 | 431 | Panagiotis Nakopoulos |  GRE | 8:48.4 | ||
| 11 | 188 | Yohannes Mohamed |  ETH | 8:52.6 | ||
| 12 | 421 | Robert Hackman |  GHA | 8:57.6 |
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | Time (Automatic) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 572 | Amos Biwott | KEN | 8:23.73 | ||
| 2 | 729 | Bronisław Malinowski | POL | 8:28.2 | ||
| 3 | 879 | Dušan Moravčík | TCH | 8:33.4 | ||
| 4 | 291 | Steve Hollings | GBR | 8:35.0 | ||
| 5 | 518 | Franco Fava |  ITA | 8:35.0 | ||
| 6 | 399 | Hans-Dieter Schulten | FRG | 8:39.8 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Boualem Rahoui |  ALG | 8:41.0 | ||
| 8 | 427 | Spyridon Kontosoros | GRE | 8:41.0 | ||
| 9 | 824 | Georges Kaiser | SUI | 8:45.4 | ||
| 10 | 997 | Mike Manley | USA | 8:50.4 | ||
| 11 | 685 | Sverre Sørnes | NOR | 8:54.8 | ||
| 12 | 198 | Usaia Sotutu |  FIJ | 9:12.0 | ||
| 13 | 440 | Julio Quevedo |  GUA | 9:28.4 |
