1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 50 metres

First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	Marian Woronin	Poland	5.70	Q, CR
2	2	Andrey Shlyapnikov	Soviet Union	5.78	Q
3	1	Marc Gasparoni	France	5.79	Q
3	1	Vladimir Muravyov	Soviet Union	5.79	Q
3	2	Philippe Le Joncour	France	5.79	Q
6	1	Josep Carbonell	Spain	5.84	Q
6	3	Antoine Richard	France	5.84	Q
6	3	Ivaylo Karanyotov	Bulgaria	5.84	Q
9	3	Luciano Caravani	Italy	5.85	q
10	2	Selwyn Clarke	Great Britain	5.86	Q
11	2	Jerzy Brunner	Poland	5.89	q
12	1	Stefan Nilsson	Sweden	5.92	q
13	1	Franco Zucchini	Italy	5.93
14	3	Aleksandar Popović	Yugoslavia	5.97
15	1	Roland Jokl	Austria	5.98
16	2	Josef Mayr	Austria	5.98

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

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Marian Woronin	Poland	5.67	Q, CR
2	1	Vladimir Muravyov	Soviet Union	5.73	Q
3	2	Andrey Shlyapnikov	Soviet Union	5.76	Q
4	2	Antoine Richard	France	5.78	Q
5	1	Philippe Le Joncour	France	5.79	Q
5	2	Selwyn Clarke	Great Britain	5.79	Q
7	1	Luciano Caravani	Italy	5.80
7	1	Ivaylo Karanyotov	Bulgaria	5.80
7	2	Marc Gasparoni	France	5.80
10	2	Josep Carbonell	Spain	5.82
11	1	Stefan Nilsson	Sweden	5.83
12	2	Jerzy Brunner	Poland	5.89