1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Praha, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 31 August and 2 September 1978.

Medalists

Gold	Venanzio Ortis Italy
Silver	Markus Ryffel Switzerland
Silver	Aleksandr Fedotkin Soviet Union

Results

Final

2 September

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Venanzio Ortis	Italy	13:28.52
	Markus Ryffel	Switzerland	13:28.60
	Aleksandr Fedotkin	Soviet Union	13:28.60
4	John Treacy	Ireland	13:28.83
5	Ilie Floroiu	Romania	13:29.27
6	Martti Vainio	Finland	13:29.67
7	Nick Rose	United Kingdom	13:32.8
8	Enn Sellik	Soviet Union	13:35.8
9	Boris Kuznetsov	Soviet Union	13:36.5
10	Frank Zimmermann	West Germany	13:39.1
11	Léon Schots	Belgium	13:47.4
12	Jörg Peter	East Germany	13:48.6
13	Karl Fleschen	West Germany	13:50.3
14	Christoph Herle	West Germany	13:55.4
15	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	13:58.2

Heats

31 August

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Frank Zimmermann	West Germany	13:32.42	Q
2	Martti Vainio	Finland	13:33.6	Q
3	Léon Schots	Belgium	13:34.1	Q
4	Jörg Peter	East Germany	13:34.3	Q
5	Boris Kuznetsov	Soviet Union	13:34.8	q
6	Brendan Foster	United Kingdom	13:38.3
7	Knut Kvalheim	Norway	13:43.6
8	Radhouane Bouster	France	14:09.3
9	John Charvetto	Gibraltar	14:18.4	NR
	Karel Gaba	Czechoslovakia	DNF

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Karl Fleschen	West Germany	13:34.45	Q
2	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	13:34.8	Q
3	Nick Rose	United Kingdom	13:35.7	Q
4	Enn Sellik	Soviet Union	13:36.2	Q
5	Gerard Tebroke	Netherlands	13:37.0
6	Fernando Cerrada	Spain	13:40.4
7	Pierre Levisse	France	13:44.1
8	Stanislav Tábor	Czechoslovakia	13:45.0
9	Dietmar Millonig	Austria	13:50.4
10	Necdet Ayaz	Turkey	13:55.7
	Justin Gloden	Luxembourg	DNF

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Aleksandr Fedotkin	Soviet Union	13:24.10	Q
2	Markus Ryffel	Switzerland	13:24.71	Q
3	Venanzio Ortis	Italy	13:26.67	Q
4	John Treacy	Ireland	13:28.85	Q
5	Christoph Herle	West Germany	13:30.59	q
6	Ilie Floroiu	Romania	13:32.5	q
7	Mike McLeod	United Kingdom	13:42.9
8	Jerzy Kowol	Poland	13:49.1
9	Aniceto Simões	Portugal	13:52.1
10	Willy Polleunis	Belgium	14:24.5
	Klaas Lok	Netherlands	DNF

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 32 athletes from 21 countries participated in the event.

• Austria (1)
• Belgium (2)
• Czechoslovakia (2)
• East Germany (1)
• Finland (1)
• France (2)

• Gibraltar (1)
• Ireland (1)
• Italy (1)
• Luxembourg (1)
• Netherlands (2)

• Norway (1)
• Poland (1)
• Portugal (2)
• Romania (1)
• Soviet Union (3)

• Spain (1)
• Switzerland (1)
• Turkey (1)
• United Kingdom (3)
• West Germany (3)