No boats were eliminated in this round (a fact highlighted by the Swiss team, fourth place in their preliminary heat, ultimately winning the silver medal).

Chile started strong, in second place at 500 metres, but steadily dropped back through the field and finished fifth.

The Germans and Danes pushed forward over the second half, while the Bulgarians and Swiss slowed.

The West German team started slow, but caught Italy before the halfway mark and separated from the latter squad by over 4 seconds at the end.

The United States made it to halfway in fourth place and not far behind the lead group, but faltered over the second half and finished fifth.

Chile was only half a second behind third-place Norway at 500 metres, but fell further behind at each quarter-mark after that; the South Americans were eliminated.

West Germany made a late charge from fourth place to overtake both Norway and Denmark.

Norway gained back ground in the last 500 metres, but was unable to catch Denmark, finishing a quarter-second behind.

Italy had briefly passed Switzerland around the halfway mark, but otherwise was in fifth throughout; Spain was last from the first quarter-mark to the finish.

Spain, which had finished last in the semifinal, this time defeated Bulgaria and Italy, as well as the rest, to take 7th place overall.

It required a last-to-first drive, however, as Spain was in sixth place in the heat after 500 metres—though only behind leaders Bulgaria by 2.23 seconds.

Bulgaria held the lead through 1500 metres before being passed by Spain, finishing second in the race and 8th overall.

[5] Final A, for 1st through 6th places, was held on September 24, a temperate (20.7 °C), sunny day with 1.5 m/s northeast wind.

But none of those three teams finished higher than third; the Netherlands surged first, advancing from fourth place at the quarter-mark to second at the halfway point and then first—where they would finish—three-quarters of the way in.

The Swiss also made a late push, charging all the way from fifth at the halfway mark (and fourth at 1500 metres) to edge out the Soviets for the silver medal by 0.28 seconds.