| style="background: gold"| Gold | style="background: silver"| Silver | style="background: #CC9966"| Bronze | | en's 100 m | Valery Borsov, URS 10.14 | Robert Taylor, USA 10.24 | Lennox Miller, JAM 10.33 |
| en's 200 m | Valery Borsov, URS 20.00 | Larry Black, USA 20.19 | Pietro Mennea, ITA 20.30 |
| en's 400 m | Vincent Matthews, USA 44.66 | Wayne Collett, USA 44.80 | Julius Sang, KEN 44.92 |
| en's 800 m | Dave Wottle, USA 1:45.9 | Yevgeni Arzhanov, URS 1:45.9 | Mike Boit, KEN 1:46.0 |
| en's 1,500 m | Pekka Vasala, FIN 3:36.3 | Kipchoge Keino, KEN 3:36.8 | Rodney Dixon, NZL 3:37.5 |
| en's 5,000 m | Lasse Viren, FIN 13:26.4 | Mohamed Gammoudi, TUN 13:27.4 | Ian Stewart, GBR 13:27.6 |
| en's 10,000 m | Lasse Viren, FIN 27:38.4 | Emiel Puttemans, BEL 27:39.6 | Miruts Yifter, ETH 27:41.0 |
| en's Marathon | Frank Shorter, USA 2:12:19.8 | Karel Lismont, BEL 2:14:31.8 | Mamo Wolde, ETH 2:15:08.4 |
| en's 110 m Hurdles | Rodney Milburn, USA 13.24 | Guy Drut, FRA 13.34 | Thomas Hill, USA 13.48 |
| en's 400 m Hurdles | John Akii-Bua, UGA 47.82 | Ralph Mann, USA 48.51 | David Hemery, GBR 48.52 |
| en's 3,000 m Steeplechase | Kipchoge Keino, KEN 8:23.6 | Benjamin Jipcho, KEN 8:24.6 | Tapio Kantanen, FIN 8:24.8 |
| en's 4 x 100 m Relay | United States 38.19 | Soviet Union 38.50 | West Germany 38.79 |
| en's 4 x 400 m Relay | Kenya 2:59.8 | Great Britain 3:00.5 | France 3:00.7 |
| en's 20 km Walk | Peter Frenkel, GDR 1:26:42.4 | Vladimir Golubnichiy, URS 1:26:55.2 | Hans Reimann, GDR 1:27:16.6 |
| en's 50 km Walk | Bernd Kannenberg, FRG 3:56:11.6 | Vladimir Soldatenko, URS 3:58:24.0 | Larry Young, USA 4:00:46.0 |
| en's High Jump | Yury Tarmak, URS 7'3" | Stefan Junge, GDR 7'3" | Dwight Stones, USA 7'3" |
| en's Pole Vault | Wolfgang Nordwig, GDR 18'" | Robert Seagren, USA 17'8" | Jan Johnson, USA 17'6" |
| en's Long Jump | Randy Williams, USA 27'" | Hans Baumgartner, FRG 26'10" | Arnie Robinson, USA 26'4" |
| en's Triple Jump | Viktor Saneyev, URS 56'11" | Jorg Drehmel, GDR 56'9" | Nelson Prudencio, BRA 55'11" |
| en's Shot Put | Wladyslaw Komar, POL 69'6" | George Woods, USA 69'5" | Harmut Briesenick, GDR 69'4" |
| en's Discus | Ludvik Danek, TCH 211'3" | Jay Silvester, USA 208'4" | Rickard Bruch, SWE 208'0" |
| en's Hammer Throw | Anatoli Bondarchuk, URS 247'8" | Jochen Sachse, GDR 245'11" | Vasili Khmelevski, URS 242'10" |
| en's Javelin | Klaus Wolfermann, FRG 296'10" | Janis Lusis, URS 296'9" | William Schmidt, USA 276'11" |
| en's Decathlon | Nikolai Avilov, URS 8454 | Leonid Litvinenko, URS 8035 | Ryszard Katus, POL 7984 |
| omen's 100 m | Renate Stecher, GDR 11.07 | Raelene, Boyle, AUS 11.23 | Silvia Chivas, CUB 11.24 |
| omen's 200 m | Renate Stecher, GDR 22.40 | Raelene, Boyle, AUS 22.45 | Irena Szewinska-Kirszenstein, POL 22.74 |
| omen's 400 m | Monika Zehrt, GDR 51.08 | Rita Wilden, FRG 51.21 | Kathy Hammond, USA 51.64 |
| omen's 800 m | Hildegard Falck, FRG 1:58.6 | Niole Sabaite, URS 1:58.7 | Gunhild Hoffmeister, GDR 1:59.2 |
| omen's 1,500 m | Ludmila Bragina, URS 4:01.4 | Gunhild Hoffmeister, GDR 4:02.8 | Paola Cacchi, ITA 4:02.9 |
| omen's 100 m Hurdles | Annelie Ehrhardt, GDR 12.59 | Valeria Bufanu, ROM 12.84 | Karin Balzer, GDR 12.90 |
| omen's 4 x 100 m Relay | West Germany 42.81 | East Germany 42.95 | Cuba 43.36 |
| omen's 4 x 400 m Relay | East Germany 3:23.0 | United States 3:25.2 | West Germany 3:26.5 |
| omen's High Jump | Ulrike Meyfarth, FRG 6'3" | Yordanka Blagoyeva, BUL 6'2" | Ilona Gusenbauer, AUT 6'2" |
| omen's Long Jump | Heide Rosendahl, FRG 22'3" | Diana Yorgova, BUL 27'2" | Eva Suranova, TCH 21'10" |
| omen's Shot Put | Nadyezda Chizhova, URS 69'0" | Margitta Gummel, GDR 66'4" | Ivanka Khristova, BUL 63'6" |
| omen's Discus | Faina Melnik, URS 218'7" | Argentina Menis, ROM 213'5" | Vassilka Stoyeva, BUF 211'1" |
| omen's Javelin | Ruth Fuchs, GDR 209'7" | Jaqueline Todten, GDR 205'2" | Kathy Schmidt, USA 196'8" |
| omen's Pentathlon | Mary Peters, GBR 4801 | Heide Rosendahl, FRG 4791 | Burglinde Pollak, GDR 4768 |