The men's 5000 metres event at the 1997 European Athletics U23 Championships was held in Turku, Finland, on 13 July 1997.
| Gold | Simone Zanon | |
| Silver | Rachid Berradi | |
| Bronze | Sergey Lukin |
13 July
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | align=left | | 13:45.60 | ||||
| align=left | align=left | | 13.47.08 | ||||
| align=left | align=left | | 13:48.04 | ||||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | | 13:49.08 | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left |  | 13:58.84 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:00.68 | |||
| 7 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:01.15 | |||
| 8 | align=left | align=left | | 14:07.13 | |||
| 9 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:07.17 | |||
| 10 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:08.39 | |||
| 11 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:17.89 | |||
| 12 | align=left | align=left | | 14:18.31 | |||
| 13 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:20.37 | |||
| 14 | align=left | align=left | 14:26.39 | ||||
| 15 | align=left | align=left | | 14:36.39 | |||
| 16 | align=left | align=left | 14:38.81 | ||||
| 17 | align=left | align=left |  | 14:40.83 | |||
| align=left | align=left | DNF | |||||
| align=left | align=left | | DNF |
According to an unofficial count, 19 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.
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