| 1 | Kazuhiko Yamazaki | JPN | 49,08 | Q |
| 2 | Tibor Bédi | HUN | 49,38 | Q |
| 3 | Periklis Iakovakis | GRE | 49,53 | |
| 4 | Ken Harnden | ZIM | 49,72 | |
| 5 | Cleverson Oliveira Da Silva | BRA | 49,98 | |
| 6 | Vadim Zadoynov | MDA | 50,14 | |
| 7 | Zaher Al Din Al Najem | SYR | 50,35 | |
| Chen Tien-Wen | TPE | DQ |
| 1 | Samuel Matete | ZAM | 48,90 | Q |
| 2 | Carlos Silva | POR | 49,02 | Q |
| 3 | Miro Kocuvan | SLO | 49,63 | |
| 4 | Felix Sanchez | DOM | 49,67 | |
| 5 | Tan Chunhua | CHN | 50,10 | |
| 6 | Alexandre Marchand | CAN | 50,30 | |
| 7 | Ashok K. Jayasundara | SRI | 51,70 |
| 1 | Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 49,07 | Q |
| 2 | Pawel Januszewski | POL | 49,21 | Q |
| 3 | Jirí Muzik | CZE | 49,40 | q |
| 4 | Pedro Rodrigues | POR | 49,97 | |
| 5 | Siniša Peša | YUG | 50,40 | |
| 6 | Curt Young | PAN | 51,48 | |
| Llewellyn Herbert | RSA | DNS |
| 1 | Dinsdale Morgan | JAM | 48,99 | Q |
| 2 | Jean Laurent Heusse | FRA | 49,82 | Q |
| 3 | Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily | KSA | 49,88 | |
| 4 | Darko Juricic | CRO | 49,96 | |
| 5 | Jeff Ellis | CAN | 50,77 | |
| 6 | Hamed Ziad Abou | AUS | 50,85 | |
| Chris Rawlinson | GBR | DNS |
| 1 | Stéphane Diagana | FRA | 48,55 | Q |
| 2 | Eronilde Nunes De Araújo | BRA | 48,81 | Q |
| 3 | Torrance Zellner | USA | 48,97 | q |
| 4 | Hideaki Kawamura | JPN | 49,66 | |
| 5 | Monte Raymond | CAN | 50,75 | |
| 6 | Ivan Wakit | PNG | 52,55 | |
| Costas Pochanis | CYP | DNF |
| 1 | Marcel Schelbert | SUI | 48,66 | Q |
| 2 | Joey Woody | USA | 49,18 | Q |
| 3 | Ibou Faye | SEN | 49,48 | |
| 4 | Shunji Karube | JPN | 49,52 | |
| 5 | Mustapha Sdad | MAR | 49,64 | |
| 6 | Anthony Borsumato | GBR | 50,05 | |
| Kenneth Enyiazu | NGR | DNS |
| 1 | Kemel Thompson | JAM | 49,17 | Q |
| 2 | Thomas Goller | GER | 49,52 | Q |
| 3 | Angelo Taylor | USA | 49,58 | |
| 4 | Paul Gray | GBR | 50,15 | |
| 5 | Vladislav Shiryayev | RUS | 50,34 | |
| 6 | Victor Houston | BAR | 50,57 | |
| 7 | Asha Ram Chaudhary | NEP | 53,87 |
| 1 | Joey Woody | USA | 48,55 | Q |
| 2 | Pawel Januszewski | POL | 48,63 | Q |
| 3 | Marcel Schelbert | SUI | 48,80 | Q |
| 4 | Kemel Thompson | JAM | 48,95 | |
| 5 | Jirí Muzik | CZE | 49,17 | |
| 6 | Samuel Matete | ZAM | 49,28 | |
| 7 | Kazuhiko Yamazaki | JPN | 49,46 | |
| 8 | Jean Laurent Heusse | FRA | 50,17 |
| 1 | Stéphane Diagana | FRA | 48,18 | Q |
| 2 | Fabrizio Mori | ITA | 48,29 | Q |
| 3 | Eronilde Nunes De Araújo | BRA | 48,41 | Q |
| 4 | Torrance Zellner | USA | 48,53 | q |
| 5 | Dinsdale Morgan | JAM | 48,71 | q |
| 6 | Tibor Bédi | HUN | 49,00 | |
| 7 | Carlos Silva | POR | 49,45 | |
| 8 | Thomas Goller | GER | 49,89 |