Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
100 metres details | Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | 10.14 | Robert Taylor United States | 10.24 | Lennox Miller Jamaica | 10.33 |
200 metres details | Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | 20.00 | Larry Black United States | 20.19 | Pietro Mennea Italy | 20.30 |
400 metres details | Vincent Matthews United States | 44.66 | Wayne Collett United States | 44.80 | Julius Sang Kenya | 44.92 |
800 metres details | Dave Wottle United States | 1:45.86 | Yevhen Arzhanov Soviet Union | 1:45.89 | Mike Boit Kenya | 1:46.01 |
1500 metres details | Pekka Vasala Finland | 3:36.33 | Kipchoge Keino Kenya | 3:36.81 | Rod Dixon New Zealand | 3:37.46 |
5000 metres details | Lasse Virén Finland | 13:26.42 (OR) | Mohammed Gammoudi Tunisia | 13:27.33 | Ian Stewart Great Britain | 13:27.61 |
10,000 metres details | Lasse Virén Finland | 27:38.35 (WR) | Emiel Puttemans Belgium | 27:39.58 | Miruts Yifter Ethiopia | 27:40.96 |
110 metres hurdles details | Rod Milburn United States | 13.24 (WR) | Guy Drut France | 13.34 | Thomas Hill United States | 13.48 |
400 metres hurdles details | John Akii-Bua Uganda | 47.82 (WR) | Ralph Mann United States | 48.51 | David Hemery Great Britain | 48.52 |
3000 metres steeplechase details | Kipchoge Keino Kenya | 8:23.64 (OR) | Ben Jipcho Kenya | 8:24.62 | Tapio Kantanen Finland | 8:24.66 |
4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Larry Black Robert Taylor Gerald Tinker Eddie Hart | 38.19 (WR) | Soviet Union (URS) Aleksandr Kornelyuk Vladimir Lovetskiy Yuris Silovs Valeriy Borzov | 38.50 | West Germany (FRG) Jobst Hirscht Karlheinz Klotz Gerhard Wucherer Klaus Ehl | 38.79 |
4 × 400 metres relay details | Kenya (KEN) Charles Asati Munyoro Nyamau Robert Ouko Julius Sang | 2:59.83 | Great Britain (GBR) Martin Reynolds Alan Pascoe David Hemery David Jenkins | 3:00.46 | France (FRA) Gilles Bertould Daniel Velasques Francis Kerbiriou Jacques Carette | 3:00.65 |
Marathon details | Frank Shorter United States | 2:12:19.8 | Karel Lismont Belgium | 2:14:31.8 | Mamo Wolde Ethiopia | 2:15:08.4 |
20 kilometres walk details | Peter Frenkel East Germany | 1:26:42.4 (OR) | Volodymyr Holubnychy Soviet Union | 1:26:55.2 | Hans-Georg Reimann East Germany | 1:27:16.6 |
50 kilometres walk details | Bernd Kannenberg West Germany | 3:56:11.6 | Veniamin Soldatenko Soviet Union | 3:58:24.0 | Larry Young United States | 4:00:46.0 |
High jump details | Jüri Tarmak Soviet Union | 2.23 m | Stefan Junge East Germany | 2.21 m | Dwight Stones United States | 2.21 m |
Pole vault details | Wolfgang Nordwig East Germany | 5.50 m (OR) | Robert Seagren United States | 5.40 m | Jan Johnson United States | 5.35 m |
Long jump details | Randy Williams United States | 8.24 m | Hans Baumgartner West Germany | 8.18 m | Arnie Robinson United States | 8.03 m |
Triple jump details | Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union | 17.35 m | Jörg Drehmel East Germany | 17.31 m | Nelson Prudêncio Brazil | 17.05 m |
Shot put details | Władysław Komar Poland | 21.18 m (OR) | George Woods United States | 21.17 m | Hartmut Briesenick East Germany | 21.14 m |
Discus throw details | Ludvík Daněk Czechoslovakia | 64.40 m | Jay Silvester United States | 63.50 m | Ricky Bruch Sweden | 63.40 m |
Hammer throw details | Anatoliy Bondarchuk Soviet Union | 75.50 m (OR) | Jochen Sachse East Germany | 74.96 m | Vasili Khmelevski Soviet Union | 74.04 m |
Javelin throw details | Klaus Wolfermann West Germany | 90.48 m (OR) | Jānis Lūsis Soviet Union | 90.46 m | Bill Schmidt United States | 84.42 m |
Decathlon details | Mykola Avilov Soviet Union | 8454 pts (WR) | Leonid Lytvynenko Soviet Union | 8035 pts | Ryszard Katus Poland | 7984 pts |