| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | Wendy Sly |
GBR |
8:44.79 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | Yelena Romanova |
URS |
8:45.00 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Tatyana Samolenko-Dorovskikh |
URS |
8:45.20 |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | Elly van Hulst |
NED |
8:45.20 |
| 5 | 5 | 2 | Maricica Puica |
ROU |
8:45.55 |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | Marie-Pierre Duros |
FRA |
8:46.81 |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | Debbie Scott-Bowker |
CAN |
8:46.88 |
| 8 | 2 | 1 | Ulrike Bruns |
GDR |
8:47.15 |
| 9 | 7 | 2 | Lynn Kanuka-Williams |
CAN |
8:47.43 |
| 10 | 3 | 1 | Cornelia Bürki |
SUI |
8:47.95 |
| 11 | 4 | 1 | Olga Bondarenko |
URS |
8:48.11 |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | Yvonne Murray |
GBR |
8:48.44 |
| 13 | 8 | 2 | Christine Benning |
GBR |
8:48.63 |
| 14 | 7 | 1 | Mary Knisely |
USA |
8:49.61 |
| 14 | 6 | 1 | Vera Michallek |
FRG |
8:49.61 |
| 16 | 9 | 2 | Xiuting Wang |
CHN |
8:50.68 AR |
| 17 | 10 | 2 | Paula Ivan |
ROU |
8:51.20 |
| 18 | 11 | 2 | Leslie Seymour |
USA |
8:51.34 |
| 19 | 12 | 2 | Radka Naplatanova |
BUL |
8:51.98 |
| 20 | 8 | 1 | Annette Sergent-Palluy |
FRA |
8:52.45 |
| 21 | 9 | 1 | Cindy Bremser |
USA |
8:54.17 |
| 22 | 10 | 1 | Jackie Perkins |
AUS |
8:57.24 |
| 23 | 13 | 2 | Agnese Possamai |
ITA |
8:57.85 |
| 24 | 11 | 1 | Fernanda Ribeiro |
POR |
9:01.15 |
| 25 | 14 | 2 | Andri Avraam |
CYP |
9:09.34 |
| 26 | 12 | 1 | Satu Levelä |
FIN |
9:16.28 |
| 27 | 13 | 1 | Monica Regonessi |
CHI |
9:26.11 |
| 28 | 14 | 1 | Raj Kumari Pandey |
NEP |
10:44.15 |
| 1 | Dorina Calenic-Briand |
ROU |
DQ | ||
| 2 | Martine Fays |
FRA |
DNF | ||
| 2 | Fanny Gidiyoni |
MAW |
DNS |