| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Hicham El Guerrouj |
MAR |
3:37.47 Q |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Vénuste Niyongabo |
BDI |
3:37.62 Q |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | Gary Lough |
GBR |
3:37.78 Q |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | Mohamed Suleiman |
QAT |
3:37.78 Q |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Rachid El Basir |
MAR |
3:37.96 Q |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | Isaac Viciosa |
ESP |
3:38.03 q |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | Noureddine Morceli |
ALG |
3:38.37 Q |
| 8 | 7 | 2 | Paul McMullen |
USA |
3:38.54 q |
| 9 | 8 | 2 | Vyacheslav Shabunin |
RUS |
3:38.61 |
| 10 | 2 | 1 | Niall Bruton |
IRL |
3:39.00 Q |
| 11 | 3 | 1 | Abdelkader Chékhémani |
FRA |
3:39.08 Q |
| 12 | 4 | 1 | Kevin Sullivan |
CAN |
3:39.23 Q |
| 13 | 5 | 1 | FermÃn Cacho |
ESP |
3:39.35 Q |
| 14 | 6 | 1 | Alà Hakimi |
TUN |
3:39.40 |
| 15 | 7 | 1 | Eric Dubus |
FRA |
3:39.73 |
| 16 | 9 | 2 | Julius Achon |
UGA |
3:39.87 |
| 17 | 8 | 1 | Terrance Herrington |
USA |
3:39.96 |
| 18 | 9 | 1 | John Mayock |
GBR |
3:40.20 |
| 19 | 10 | 2 | Reuben Chesang Kambich |
KEN |
3:40.63 |
| 20 | 11 | 2 | Samir Benfarés |
FRA |
3:43.19 |
| 21 | 10 | 1 | Christophe Impens |
BEL |
3:44.86 |
| 22 | 12 | 2 | Robert Kiplagat Andersen |
DEN |
3:46.41 |
| 23 | 11 | 1 | Azzeddine Sediki |
MAR |
3:46.84 |
| 1 | Joaquim Cruz |
BRA |
DNS |