1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 50 metres hurdles

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

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	Arto Bryggare	Finland	6.53	Q
2	2	Stepan Kuziv	Soviet Union	6.58	Q
3	3	Guy Drut	France	6.63	Q
4	2	Javier Moracho	Spain	6.64	Q
5	1	Yuriy Chervanyov	Soviet Union	6.65	Q
6	1	Plamen Krastev	Bulgaria	6.66	Q
7	2	Hans-Gerd Klein	West Germany	6.67	Q
8	2	Pablo Cassina	Switzerland	6.71	q
9	1	Dieter Gebhard	West Germany	6.72	Q
10	1	Daniele Fontecchio	Italy	6.73	q
10	3	György Bakos	Hungary	6.73	Q
12	3	Roberto Schneider	Switzerland	6.74	q
13	2	Vasko Nedyalkov	Bulgaria	6.75
14	1	Jiří Čeřovský	Czechoslovakia	6.76
15	1	Jean-Yves Clerc	France	6.83
16	3	Marco Braccini	Italy	6.97

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

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Arto Bryggare	Finland	6.54	Q
2	2	Javier Moracho	Spain	6.58	Q
3	1	Guy Drut	France	6.59	Q
4	1	Hans-Gerd Klein	West Germany	6.60	Q
5	2	Yuriy Chervanyov	Soviet Union	6.63	Q
6	1	Plamen Krastev	Bulgaria	6.64	Q
7	1	Stepan Kuziv	Soviet Union	6.66
8	1	Dieter Gebhard	West Germany	6.66
9	2	György Bakos	Hungary	6.69
10	2	Daniele Fontecchio	Italy	6.79
11	2	Pablo Cassina	Switzerland	6.83
	1	Roberto Schneider	Switzerland	DNF

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Arto Bryggare	Finland	6.47	CR, NR
	Javier Moracho	Spain	6.48
	Guy Drut	France	6.54
4	Plamen Krastev	Bulgaria	6.62	NR
5	Yuriy Chervanyov	Soviet Union	6.62
6	Hans-Gerd Klein	West Germany	6.71