1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 50 metres
# 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 50 metres

The men's 50 metres event at the 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 11 March in Grenoble.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| - | - | - |
| Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | Aleksandr Kornelyuk Soviet Union | Vasilis Papageorgopoulos Greece |

## Results

### Heats

First 4 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the semifinals.

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | Vasilis Papageorgopoulos | Greece | 5.75 | Q, WB |
| 2 | 3 | Aleksandr Kornelyuk | Soviet Union | 5.80 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Gerhard Wucherer | West Germany | 5.82 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Valeriy Borzov | Soviet Union | 5.83 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Raimo Vilén | Finland | 5.88 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Manuel Carballo | Spain | 5.92 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Barrie Kelly | Great Britain | 5.92 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Manfred Schumann | West Germany | 5.92 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | Romain Roels | Belgium | 6.01 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Patrick Bourbeillon | France | 6.01 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 3 | Philippe Clerc | Switzerland | 6.01 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | Erik Gustafsson | Finland | 6.02 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | Søren Viggo Pedersen | Denmark | 6.02 | |
| 12 | 3 | Vittorio Roscio | Italy | 6.02 | |
| 15 | 1 | Luděk Bohman | Czechoslovakia | 6.13 | |

### Semifinals

First 3 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Vasilis Papageorgopoulos | Greece | 5.77 | Q |
| 1 | 2 | Valeriy Borzov | Soviet Union | 5.77 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 1 | Aleksandr Kornelyuk | Soviet Union | 5.80 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Raimo Vilén | Finland | 5.82 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | Gerhard Wucherer | West Germany | 5.83 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Patrick Bourbeillon | France | 5.85 | |
| 7 | 2 | Manuel Carballo | Spain | 5.90 | Q, NR |
| 8 | 1 | Barrie Kelly | Great Britain | 5.92 | |
| 8 | 2 | Manfred Schumann | West Germany | 5.92 | |
| 10 | 2 | Romain Roels | Belgium | 5.98 | |
| 11 | 2 | Erik Gustafsson | Finland | 6.05 | |
| 12 | 1 | Philippe Clerc | Switzerland | 6.15 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Valeriy Borzov | Soviet Union | 5.75 | =WB |
| | Aleksandr Kornelyuk | Soviet Union | 5.81 | |
| | Vasilis Papageorgopoulos | Greece | 5.82 | |
| 4 | Gerhard Wucherer | West Germany | 5.84 | |
| 5 | Raimo Vilén | Finland | 5.93 | |
| 6 | Manuel Carballo | Spain | 6.28 | |
