| 100 m | Juris Silovs|URS}} | 10.37 | Silvio Leonard|CUB}} | 10.43 | Pietro Mennea|ITA}} | 10.48 |
| 200 m | Pietro Mennea|ITA}} | 20.56 | Chris Monk|GBR}} | 20.70 | Wardell Gilbreath|USA}} | 20.80 |
| 400 m | Alberto Juantorena|CUB}} | 45.36 | Semyon Kocher|URS}} | 46.32 | David Jenkins|GBR}} | 46.39 |
| 800 m | Yevgeniy Arzhanov|URS}} | 1:46.88 | Marcel Philippe|FRA}} | 1:47.29 | Hans-Henning Ohlert|GDR}} | 1:47.51 |
| 1500 m | Frank Clement|GBR}} | 3:42.32 | Tony Waldrop|USA}} | 3:42.70 | Reggie McAfee|USA}} | 3:43.20 |
| 5000 m | Mikhail Zhelobovskiy|URS}} | 13:41.25 | Glenn Herold|USA}} | 13:41.87 | Valentin Zotov|URS}} | 13:46.60 |
| 10,000 m | Dane Korica|YUG}} | 28:48.90 | Norman Morrison|GBR}} | 28:48.99 | Patrick Kiingi|KEN}} | 28:50.80 |
| 110 m hurdles | Berwyn Price|GBR}} | 13.69 | Anatoliy Moshiashvili|URS}} | 13.73 | Thomas Munkelt|GDR}} | 13.80 |
| 400 m hurdles | Dmitriy Stukalov|URS}} | 49.62 | Miroslav Kodejš|TCH}} | 49.94 | Tadeusz Kulczycki|POL}} | 50.50 |
| 3000 m s'chase | Leonid Savelyev|URS}} | 8:26.49 | Michael Karst|FRG}} | 8:28.32 | Jan Kondzior|POL}} | 8:28.66 |
| 4×100 m relay | USA}}
Thomas Whatley
Wardell Gilbreath
Larry Brown
Steve Riddick | 39.10 | URS}}
Aleksandr Zhidkikh
Vladimir Lovyetskiy
Juris Silovs
Vladimir Atamas | 39.46 | ITA}}
Vincenzo Guerini
Luigi Benedetti
Sergio Morselli
Pietro Mennea | 39.55 |
| 4×400 m relay | USA}}
Mark Lutz
Darwyn Bond
Ron Jenkins
Dennis Schultz | 3:04.40 | GBR}}
David Jenkins
Joe Chivers
Stephen Black
Stewart McCallum | 3:05.38 | FRG}}
Franz-Josef Gleen
Siegfried Götz
Wolfgang Druschky
Bernd Herrmann | 3:06.11 |
| High jump | Vladimír Malý|TCH}} | 2.18 | István Major|HUN}} | 2.18 | Vladimir Abramov|URS}}
{{flagathlete|Enzo Del Forno|ITA}}
{{flagathlete|Csaba Dosa|ROM}}
{{flagathlete|Valentin Gavrilov|URS}}
{{flagathlete|John Hawkins|CAN}}
{{flagathlete|Robert Joseph|USA}}
{{flagathlete|Roman Moravec|TCH}} | 2.15 |
| Pole vault | François Tracanelli|FRA}} | 5.42 | Yuriy Isakov|URS}}
{{flagathlete|Terry Porter|USA}} | 5.30 |
| Long jump | Valeriy Podluzhniy|URS}} | 8.15 | Jean-François Bonhème|FRA}} | 7.85 | Hans Baumgartner|FRG}} | 7.85 |
| Triple jump | Mikhail Bariban|URS}} | 17.20 | Viktor Saneyev|URS}} | 17.00 | Jörg Drehmel|GDR}} | 16.76 |
| Shot put | Valeriy Voykin|URS}} | 19.56 | Leszek Gajdziński|POL}} | 19.07 | Aleksandr Baryshnikov|URS}} | 19.01 |
| Discus throw | Viktor Zhurba|URS}} | 61.60 | Gunnar Müller|GDR}} | 59.72 | Ferenc Tégla|HUN}} | 59.48 |
| Hammer throw | Valentin Dmitriyenko|URS}} | 72.42 | Aleksey Spiridonov|URS}} | 71.82 | Uwe Beyer|FRG}} | 71.18 |
| Javelin throw | Jānis Zirnis|URS}} | 80.08 | Dmitriy Sitnikov|URS}} | 79.65 | Anthony Hall|USA}} | 78.36 |
| Decathlon | Ryszard Skowronek|POL}} | 7965 | Mykola Avilov|URS}} | 7903 | Rudolf Sigert|URS}} | 7825 |
| 100 m | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen|FIN}} | 11.41 | Elfgard Schittenhelm|FRG}} | 11.62 | Ellen Stropahl|GDR}} | 11.63 |
| 200 m | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen|FIN}} | 22.39 | Marina Sidorova|URS}} | 22.72 | Ellen Stropahl|GDR}} | 22.73 |
| 400 m | Nadezhda Kolesnikova|URS}} | 52.04 | Judy Canty|AUS}} | 52.82 | Carmen Trustée|CUB}} | 53.44 |
| 800 m | Lilyana Tomova|BUL|1971}} | 1:59.52 | Nijolė Sabaitė|URS}} | 2:00.19 | Elżbieta Katolik|POL}} | 2:00.85 |
| 1500 m | Paola Pigni-Cacchi|ITA}} | 4:10.69 | Glenda Reiser|CAN}} | 4:12.50 | Tonka Petrova|BUL|1971}} | 4:13.50 |
| 100 m hurdles | Grażyna Rabsztyn|POL}} | 13.23 | Annerose Krumpholz|GDR}} | 13.38 | Natalya Lebedeva|URS}} | 13.50 |
| 4×100 m relay | URS}} | 43.99 | POL}} | 44.42 | GDR}} | 44.44 |
| High jump | Virginia Ioan|ROM|1965}} | 1.84 | Jutta Kirst|GDR}} | 1.84 | Galina Filatova|URS}}
{{flagathlete|Sara Simeoni|ITA}} | 1.81 |
| Long jump | Margrit Olfert|GDR}} | 6.63 | Margarita Treinytė|URS}} | 6.51 | Brenda Eisler|CAN}} | 6.48 |
| Shot put | Nadezhda Chizhova|URS}} | 20.82 | Elena Stoyanova|BUL|1971}} | 18.64 | Faina Melnik|URS}} | 18.31 |
| Discus throw | Faina Melnik|URS}} | 64.54 | Argentina Menis|ROM|1965}} | 63.92 | Nadezhda Sergeyeva|URS}} | 59.26 |
| Javelin throw | Svetlana Korolyova|URS}} | 62.00 | Kate Schmidt|USA}} | 60.34 | Lyutvian Mollova|BUL|1971}} | 59.04 |
| Pentathlon | Nadezhda Tkachenko|URS}} | 4629 | Tatyana Vorokhobko|URS}} | 4444 | Diane Jones|CAN}} | 4370 |